Sometimes It Hurts Instead
by Ciara2531
Summary: "Sometimes I can't even look at her because she reminds me of you so much and it hurts and I miss you."
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So I think I mentioned the last time that I am currently obsessed. Seriously, it has been forever since I've been inspired to write fic but these two make it really easy. This piece was particularly Fitz centric; I had to resist the urge to throw Olivia's point of view in at certain points. Maybe I'll do a companion piece. Maybe I'll expand on this. Kind of depends on where the plot bunnies decide to go. I hope you enjoy it. Comments are always welcome. **

* * *

Are you going to miss it?" Sally Langston asked.

Fitzgerald Thomas Grant III looked around the Oval office, his hands stuffed into his pockets. The Oval was iconic; it symbolized the power, the prestige, and the responsibility that came along with being the President of the United States of America.

Over the course of his two terms though, he'd made a lot of memories here that had nothing to do with his duty. There was the night of his first inauguration when he and Olivia had surrendered to the blazing passion that never failed to spark between them. He'd taken her hard and fast on the Resolute and it had been one of the most exhilarating, erotic moments of his life.

Dozens of other images flashed through his mind but not all of them were as pleasant as that one. In the early years, he'd seen this office and its constraints as "the crown jewel of the American prison system". In the last six years, it had been something of a saving grace. From the minute that Olivia had married Edison Davis and brought a child into the world, Fitz had used his work to keep all the pieces of himself glued together.

"I don't know," he said honestly.

He gave Sally a small smile.

"It's all yours now though," he said. "Good luck, Madame President."

Sally nodded at him and started to round the desk. Fitz gave the room one last look and then turned and walked out without a backward glance. Tom fell into step with him and they made their way towards the garage.

An hour later, Fitz was settled in a suite at the Ritz with Tom and the rest of his Secret Service detail on guard outside. He kept temptation at bay until after he'd taken a shower, eaten dinner and spoken to Karen and Jerry, who were visiting their mother in Boston for the rest of the week. They'd join him at the Grant ranch in California next weekend.

Picking up the phone, he hesitated for a split second and then dialed the number that Cyrus had given him a few days ago. She answered on the second ring.

"What?"

Fitz's lips twitched in amusement even as tears burned the back of his eyes. It had been too long since he'd heard the sound of her voice.

"Hi," he said softly.

The silence on the other end of the line was suddenly charged and heavy.

"Is this a bad time?" Fitz forced himself to ask.

"I – hold on," Olivia said.

He heard a muffled whisper and then footsteps and then the sound of a door clicking into place.

"What- hi," she said.

"Hi," he repeated.

"You shouldn't…" Olivia began.

"Can I see you?" Fitz interrupted.

"That's probably not a good idea," Olivia said.

"Livvy, please," Fitz said. "I don't want to say good bye over the phone. Don't make me do that."

She sighed quietly.

"Fitz," she whispered.

And he could hear it in her voice; everything that had gone unsaid between them for six years. Of course, they hadn't been able to avoid each other completely; this was Washington, he was the president and she was married to a Senator. But they'd never let their guard down.

"Me too," he whispered back.

"Where?" Olivia asked.

"I'm at the Ritz," Fitz said.

"_Definitely_ not a good idea," Olivia said. "Lincoln?"

"Okay," Fitz said. "When?"

"10:30," Olivia said.

"10:30," Fitz repeated. "Okay."

There was a brief pause and for a moment, Fitz thought she was going to say something else. Instead, the sound of a dial tone echoed in his ear. He disconnected the call and placed his phone on the table. He let out a deep breath.

In two hours, he would see her again. He'd be able to look her in the eyes and say all the things he'd wanted to say for the best part of the last decade. The Lincoln Memorial wasn't far so he forced himself to stay occupied with a book and the news on in the background until almost quarter after 10. Then he slipped into his sheepskin coat.

"Just you," he said to Tom as he walked out of his room. Tom nodded and murmured something into his wrist. He kept himself a few paces back from Fitz as they left the hotel and walked the short distance. He knew exactly where Olivia would wait for him so he wasn't surprised to see her walk up a couple of steps almost at the same time as him.

She stared at him, her beautiful brown eyes wide with a mix of apprehension, relief and anticipation. He walked towards her until he was close enough to touch. Olivia stood stock still, as if she was afraid that he would and afraid that he wouldn't.

"God, I've missed you," Fitz breathed.

"Fitz," Olivia protested.

"Not a day goes by that I don't think about you," Fitz said. "That I don't crave you."

"Please don't," Olivia said, her lower lip trembling.

"I have to," Fitz said, lifting the back of his hand to her cheek. Her skin was as flawless and smooth as ever and her eyes slid shut as she leaned into his touch for the briefest of instants.

"I still love you," Fitz said. "I just need you to know that. I'm never going to stop loving you."

Olivia blinked her eyes open and he could see the sheen of tears that she was fighting back.

"Nothing changes," she said.

Fitz forced himself to try to smile.

"I know," he said.

They stared into each other's eyes and he could see her struggling.

"Wanna walk?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said.

She turned away and wiped at her eyes. Fitz reached for her hand and was grateful when she didn't pull away but instead let her fingers intertwine with his.

"How is she doing?" he asked after the silence had stretched for a few beats.

Olivia smiled, genuinely this time.

"She's good, a handful," she said. "Told me this morning that when she grows up she wants to be president."

"Of the United States?" Fitz queried.

"Of the world," Olivia corrected. "Apparently it's the only way to make sure that children everywhere are allowed to eat cream cheese and…"

"Grape jelly," Fitz finished. "Best breakfast ever."

"I have pictures," Olivia offered carefully. "If you want to see…"

"Of course," Fitz said, coming to a stop.

Olivia fished her phone out of her pocket and turned to the most recent pictures of Carly. They were from the Thanksgiving play her kindergarten class had put on.

"She's precious," Fitz said, drinking in the tiny features that were all Olivia. "Doesn't look a thing like her father."

Olivia shook her head.

"She has your smile," she said. "And your stubborn streak."

"Pretty sure she gets that from you," Fitz tried to tease. It was hard though, to get the words out past the lump in his throat.

"Her expressions, her mannerisms," Olivia said. "That's all you. Sometimes I can't even look at her because she reminds me of you so much and it _hurts _and I _miss_ _you_ and…"

The tears spilled over and Olivia just let them fall. Fitz gathered her into his arms and tucked her head into his chest. He held her while she cried, knowing that she probably hadn't allowed herself this kind of emotional release in years.

"I did this to us," she mumbled. "How could I do this to us?"

Fitz framed her face in his hands and forced her to look up at him.

"You wanted to protect her," Fitz said. "You _did_ protect her. We both know what her life would be like if people knew the truth, if they'd always known. It would have haunted her."

"You're not mad?" Olivia asked.

"You did what you thought was best for our baby, Liv," Fitz said. "What kind of man would I be to hold that against you? It doesn't mean I don't wish things were different, that I could know her, that we could be a family. But I understand."

Olivia sucked in a deep breath.

"Karen?" she asked. "And Jerry?"

"They're both good," Fitz said. "Coming out to California in a couple of days."

Olivia swallowed hard.

"You're really leaving?" she asked.

"I'm really leaving," Fitz said. "It's a new world."

"Kiss me," Olivia said.

Fitz didn't think twice. His lips were on hers in a heartbeat and it was desperate and frantic, lovers too long denied and who knew that time was already running out. They parted only long enough to drag air into their lungs and then their mouths melded together all over again, tongues tangling, arms clinging, hearts pounding.

"Promise me something," Fitz muttered, dropping kisses all over her face.

Olivia gave a jerky nod.

"Promise me that if things do change, if you ever want…" he started. "Or if you ever need anything, promise you'll call?"

"I'll call," Olivia said. "I should go."

They stared at each other, knowing that this goodbye was more final than any of the others that had come before and neither one entirely ready to face it.

"One minute?" Olivia suggested.

"One minute," Fitz agreed.

He pulled her into his arms, rested his chin on top of her head and somehow, they made that minute last forever.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you so much for all of your wonderful reviews. Between the feedback and the still hyperactive plot bunnies, I've decided to continue this. Not sure exactly where it will go or how long it will be. Anyone who knows me though knows I'm a sucker for a happy ending so I'll do my best to get these two there. I get the feeling it's not going to be all straightforward though, despite events in this chapter. I hope you enjoy it! Looking forward to hearing what you think.**

* * *

Olivia sat in the driveway of her Georgetown townhouse, fingers gripping the steering wheel as if her life depended on it. In some ways, it did. She had to pull herself together. She knew she did but _god_. The pain was excruciating. Seeing him for the first time in so long, doing more than exchanging pleasantries for the first time in even longer…

Every wound that she'd fooled herself into thinking had healed was reopened and raw and bleeding. But she knew that when she walked through the front door, when she was Mrs. Davis and not just Olivia Pope, when she was Mommy and not just Livvy, she couldn't let any of it show.

She'd let herself sob on the way home; probably not the smartest decision but lucky for her the traffic had been minimal. It was time to turn it off again, time to pretend and she understood now in a way she hadn't before just how Fitz must have felt. What it was like to be trapped in a marriage that didn't just leave you unfulfilled but that actually killed something inside you because you knew, _you knew_, what the real thing should have felt like.

If only they'd had more time. Olivia loved her daughter ferociously, wouldn't have traded her for anything. But the thought – that _what if_ – had played across her mind more than once. What if she'd been conceived a few months later? How different would life be now?

"Stop it," she chided herself. "Stop."

She'd done the only thing she could under the circumstances. If things had been different, if Mellie had been a different person, the kind of person who would sign the divorce decree instead of inducing labor and putting her unborn son's life at risk for the sole purpose of retaining her position, then maybe…

But Mellie wasn't and the circumstances weren't and so the whole thing had been messy and impossible and Olivia had been out of time. She couldn't afford to wait, couldn't afford the speculation when she started to show and people asked questions.

She'd asked Cyrus to find a few minutes in the President's schedule for her, had promised that it would be the last time in a long time and then made him promise that when she left, he would take care of Fitz.

_Fitz turned away from the window behind the Resolute when he heard the door open. His lips curled upwards when he saw her and even though he looked exhausted, she could see the smile in his eyes. She closed her eyes and wondered where in the world she was going to get the courage to do what needed to be done._

"_Livvy," he murmured. _

_He started to walk towards her but Olivia took a step back and held up her hand to stop him. She saw his happiness cloud over with confusion and then worry._

"_What's the matter?" he asked._

"_Edison asked me to marry him," Olivia said. "I'm saying yes."_

_Disbelief, devastation, and anger chased themselves across his face but then determination took their place._

"_You don't love him," Fitz said flatly, practically daring her to lie to him. She wasn't going to. That wasn't what this was about._

"_No," Olivia agreed. "I don't."_

"_Then why?" Fitz demanded._

"_Because time's up, Fitz," Olivia said. "Because this isn't just about you and me anymore."_

_She deliberately let her hand press against her stomach. Fitz's gaze followed her movement and she saw understanding register. He swallowed hard. _

"_Is it…" he started._

"_Ours," Olivia confirmed. _

_She saw his shoulders sag then, saw all the fight drain out of him as reality barreled in. America's Baby was in the NICU clinging to life by the slimmest of threads. The doctors didn't think he'd make it to a month and it didn't matter that Fitz had played no role at all in his conception. So far as the world was concerned, that was his son. And you didn't divorce your wife when your son was dying and the country was watching._

_Fitz sat heavily on the couch, his head in his hands. Olivia tried to resist the urge to comfort him but couldn't. These were the last private moments that they would share for who knew how long, maybe even forever. Almost as if he could read her mind, Fitz looked up._

"_Stay with me tonight," he choked out._

"_Fitz, we shouldn't," Olivia said, even as she sat next to him on the couch, allowed him to fold her tiny hand into his larger one._

"_It doesn't have to be here," Fitz said. "It can be wherever you want. Just please. Give me one last night."_

_And because she wanted it too, she agreed. _

Even now and even though it had been so bittersweet, it was still one of the most beautiful nights of her life. Fitz had never been sweeter, never been more tender or more thorough than he'd been that night and that was saying something.

They'd decided on the guest room he'd adopted at the Residence. There had been candles and music. Fitz had taken his time undressing her, worshipping every single inch of her body long before he stretched her underneath him on the bed.

She'd felt the urgency in each kiss, each caress but Fitz had refused to rush. They'd both known that it could be the last time in…the last time. So they'd savored it, committed each fleeting expression of pleasure, each fevered gasp or whimper of need to memory.

They'd made love four times that night, telling each other everything they needed to know with their bodies if not with words. Olivia had fallen asleep in his arms and woken just shy of daybreak to find him whispering to the baby in her belly. _I love you and I love your mother. Even if you never know me, know that._

Olivia had tried to keep her emotions in check but it was impossible. Fitz had loomed over her then and swallowed her cries with a kiss so bruising and fierce that even now, the memory was almost tangible.

Of course the world had intruded soon after, Tom discreetly making them aware that the press corps would arrive soon. Olivia had been acutely aware of Fitz watching her every move as she climbed out of bed and got dressed. When she was ready to leave, she;d faced him but she wouldn't – couldn't – look at him.

He'd crossed the distance between them, pressed his forehead against hers.

"_Livvy."_

"_Good bye, Mr. President."_

He'd run his hands over her face, breathed her in, rubbed his lips across hers and taken the one step back that would separate them forever.

Olivia could still remember the guttural scream of rage and desolation that had resonated behind her when she shut the door. She remembered the sound of things crashing into the wall that had followed her down the hall. But she hadn't looked back, had kept her eyes firmly fixed on Tom as he led her out of the Residence, out of the White House and out of Fitz's life.

* * *

"Where were you?" Edison asked.

Olivia looked away from the kettle she had on the stove.

"I went for a drive," she said. "Why?"

"Carly didn't want to go to bed," Edison said. "She insisted that you be the one to read to her. So I let her watch 101 Dalmatians and she fell asleep waiting."

"Sorry," Olivia said. "I settled her before I left. I didn't think she'd wake up again."

"She did," Edison said.

"You're mad," Olivia said.

"More like frustrated," Edison said.

Olivia couldn't entirely blame him for that. Carly could be an angel but she could also be a terror and unfortunately, Edison seemed to bring out the brat in her. Even when she was a baby, she'd always fussed more with him than with anyone else.

Almost as if she somehow sensed the truth, Olivia mused.

"Long day?" Olivia asked.

"You know how it is," Edison said. "New administration makes everyone on the Hill a little jittery."

"I remember," Olivia said. "Do you want some tea?"

"No, thanks," Edison said. "I would like to have a conversation with my wife though, one that's not about Carly or about politics. Better still, I'd like to take my wife to bed and not talk at all."

Olivia had to suppress a visible shudder. There was no way that after seeing Fitz, after kissing him and being lost in memories of their last time together that she could bear to have another man's hands on her. Even if that man was her lawfully wedded husband.

"Not tonight," Olivia said, wrapping her arms around herself. "I just want to take a bath and go to sleep."

Edison gave her a look and aside from disappointment, Olivia couldn't figure out what else was there and she was too tired to try.

"It's been months, Olivia," he said. "And it was months before that time too. I know we're both busy and Carly takes up a lot of your energy but…"

"Can we talk about it tomorrow?" Olivia asked.

"Damn it, no," Edison said. "Our marriage is in trouble, Olivia. And I'd feel a lot more confident that we could work it out if I thought you gave a damn. Right now, I'm not sure you do."

"What do you want from me?" Olivia asked him wearily.

"I want you to tell me that you love me," Edison said. "That you're in this with me, that it _matters."_

Olivia stared at him, opened her mouth but no words came out.

"Wow," Edison said bitterly.

He shook his head.

"This is my fault," he said.

"No, it's not," Olivia said.

"It is though," Edison said. "You've put on a hell of an act the last six years but I knew. I've always known that you didn't love me when we got married. But I told myself that time would change things. Then Carly was born and I told myself that she would help, be the glue that held us together. But that was always impossible wasn't it, Olivia?"

He was shouting by this point and Olivia flinched.

"Don't wake her up," Olivia said.

"Why?" Edison challenged. "You'll think she'll be upset if she sees Daddy yelling at Mommy? Except, we both know that I'm not that child's father, don't we?"

Olivia felt all the blood draining out of her face. He wasn't supposed to know that. He was never supposed to know.

"Yeah, I know," Edison said, seeming to relish her shock. "I've known for years."

"How?" Olivia rasped.

"That fourth of July picnic at my sister's house, "Edison said. "You were called into work, and Carly fell off a swing. We had to take her to the hospital, she needed blood and I wasn't a match. Basic biology after that."

"I'm…"

"Don't apologize," Edison said. "I don't want your excuses."

The kettle started to whistle but Olivia was too stunned to pay it any mind. Things hadn't been anywhere near perfect between her and Edison for a long, long time but that didn't mean that Olivia had braced herself for it all to come crashing down around her.

And considering how vulnerable she felt after seeing Fitz, there was a chance that this would be enough to send her over the edge.

"I'll move out," Edison said, reaching past her to turn the stove off. "And file for divorce first thing in the morning."

Olivia's eyes flew to his and he must have seen the panic there because he laughed; a coarse sound that held absolutely no amusement.

"I'll cite irreconcilable differences," he informed her. "And I won't file for custody. We can pretend to share if you're worried about appearances."

"This is all a bit much," Olivia said. "I didn't expect…"

"What?" Edison said. "Did you really think we could go on this way indefinitely? Six years ago I was in love with you. Right now, I don't even think I know who you are. Other than the woman whose been using me to protect herself from the consequences of her affair with a married man."

Olivia's eyes finally started to flash fire.

"You can think or say whatever you want to me, about me," Olivia snapped. "But Carly is not a _consequence_. She's the best thing I've ever done. And as for her father…"

Edison held up a hand.

"The less we say about that the better," he said.

"Fine," Olivia said.

Silence stretched between them for a few minutes and Olivia was the one to break it.

"Whatever you might think of me," she said. "It was never my intention to hurt you. I took advantage and I know that. But I wasn't thinking of myself; just of my daughter."

Edison sighed.

"I'd like to tell you that makes it better," he said. "That I'm man enough to let it but…"

He shrugged.

"So that's it?" Olivia asked.

"Seems like it," Edison said.

"What do you want to tell Carly?" Olivia asked.

"You're her mother," Edison said. "You decide."

"You're the only father that she knows," Olivia pointed out. "And I'd like to think somewhere underneath the anger and resentment you're feeling towards me, you still care about her."

"Of course I do," Edison tightly. "Why else do you think I've kept up the charade that she's mine? I'm not going to tell anyone the truth, Olivia. Not unless you want me to."

"I don't," Olivia said.

"Then that's the end of it," Edison said. "I have some papers to look over for the Intelligence Committee meeting tomorrow. I should probably get to it."

"Alright," Olivia said.

Edison walked out of the kitchen and Olivia sank back against the counter, her limbs nearly giving out from under her. She was reeling. There were a million and one thoughts chasing each other in her head but only one that stood out.

She was about to be free.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Thank you guys so much for your continued support of this story. I'm glad so many of you seem to be enjoying it. This chapter is a bit different but I figured it was time to see a bit more of what's going on in both Olivia and Fitz's respective lives. There's a little bit of a time jump here but not a big one and I'm working with a deliberately blurry timeline anyway. I hope you enjoy it!**

* * *

"Harrison, can you take the lead on the new case?" Olivia asked, speaking into the phone that was tucked between her ear and her shoulder. "Carly is having one of those mornings."

"Sure," Harrison said. "Do you want me to send Huck over?"

"Tempting," Olivia said, and it really was.

For some reason, whenever Huck was around, Carly got very calm and very still. She wasn't the least bit afraid of him so Olivia had decided to chalk it up to the natural intuitiveness of children and of her five year old in particular. Despite all the progress he'd made, Huck was still a wounded spirit in a lot of ways. Carly seemed to sense that and want to fix it.

She was two the first time she'd crawled into his lap, tucked herself and her favorite stuffed seal into the crook of his arm and stayed put without making a sound for hours. Edison had been horrified. Olivia had been impressed, both with Carly's actions and Huck's reaction.

"You guys are going to need him for this one though," Olivia said. "I can handle Carly. I should be there before 11."

"Take your time," Harrison replied.

Olivia disconnected the call and then crossed the hallway to her daughter's room. Carly was sitting cross-legged on her bed, still in her dolphin pajamas. Her arms were folded across her chest and the pout on her face suggested she was planning on digging her heels all the way in.

"Okay, pumpkin," Olivia said. "Give me three good reasons why you don't want to go to school today and I won't make you."

"Really?" Carly asked.

"No, not really," Olivia said, bundling Carly into her lap and tickling her. Carly shrieked her indignation and then buried her face in Olivia's neck.

"We have to talk about daddies today," Carly mumbled. "But my daddy went away and I don't _want_ to talk about him."

"I see," Olivia said.

It had been a month since Edison moved out and filed for divorce. The final papers would be arriving any day now. Carly hadn't shown any obvious signs of upset when they'd sat her down and tried to explain to her what _divorced_ actually meant. That was precisely why Olivia even more on alert than she would have been otherwise.

She knew Carly was processing the change in her own way but it was still a pretty significant change so she was trying to offset it by making sure there were no other major changes in her daughter's life. And the truth was, she needed the comfort of their routine just as much as she thought Carly did.

The last four weeks had given her time to get her head screwed on straight but there were still a lot of questions to be answered and decisions to be made. But they were important and Olivia didn't want to rush them. She wanted to give herself time to get them right.

"Well, did your teacher say you had to talk about _your_ daddy?" Olivia asked.

"No," Carly said.

"Did she say the daddies had to be human?" Olivia asked.

Carly made a face.

"No," she said.

"So then why don't you talk about daddy tigers or whales or…"

"Turtles," Carly offered.

"Or turtles," Olivia agreed. "Problem solved?"

Carly sighed.

"Now I have to pick an outfit," she said. "I didn't pick last night because I wasn't going!"

"Why don't you wear your yellow dress?" Olivia suggested. "That way you'll look nice and bright when we go pick up Uncle Stephen at the airport this afternoon."

Carly's eyes went wide.

"Uncle Stephen is coming?!" she squealed. "_Mommy_, you didn't tell me!"

"You were busy not wanting to go to school," Olivia said with a small shrug. "Now tell me what you want for breakfast."

"I want my favorite," Carly said.

"Of course you do," Olivia said. "One day you're going to get sick of it, you know."

"Will not," Carly said.

She squirmed out of her mother's lap and skipped towards her closet. The yellow dress, daisy print stockings, white Mary Janes and the matching headband were all laid out and fifteen minutes after a quick bath, Carly was ready to head downstairs.

"How long is Uncle Stephen going to stay?" Carly wanted to know as Olivia got her settled at the table with two slices of cinnamon raisin bread spread with the requisite cream cheese and grape jelly.

"Just for the weekend, I think," Olivia said.

She'd asked him to come because he was still the person she felt the most comfortable talking to about the tangled web that was her personal life.

Carly sighed heavily and took a dainty bite of her toast. It amazed Olivia how Carly could eat the messiest foods without getting dirty but let her loose outside and she'd be covered in dirt in a heartbeat.

"Why doesn't he stay longer?" she asked.

"Maybe if you ask him, he will," Olivia said, pouring a cup of coffee.

"_You_ ask him," Carly insisted.

"Remind me," Olivia said.

Carly rolled her eyes.

"Mommy, you never forget anything," she pointed out.

"Good point," Olivia said. "Remind me anyway."

Carly huffed out an exasperated breath and Olivia couldn't help but chuckle even as her throat tightened a tiny bit. It had been harder these last few weeks not to think about Fitz, not to wish that he was here or they were there. He'd already missed so much of Carly's life, so many of her milestones. She'd taken those moments away from him and she could never give them back.

It had weighed so heavily on her in the beginning, the guilt but also the pain of it. She'd _wanted_ him with her, pictured his face instead of Edison's time and again, at doctor's appointments and Lamaze classes, birthdays and holidays and a million moments in between. But the fantasy never held and she always felt a little colder inside when it faded.

"Ready to go?" Olivia asked.

Carly nodded and after they got her cleaned up and bundled up they headed to the car. Carly demanded her Disney sing along CD and serenaded Olivia for the entire drive to her kindergarten. Thankfully, it wasn't far so they only made it through a handful of songs.

"I'll come pick you up at 3," Olivia said as Carly climbed out of the car, dragging her backpack behind her.

"I love you, Mommy," Carly chirped.

"Love you more, pumpkin," Olivia said, blowing her a kiss. She watched Carly run off in the direction of her friends and teacher and then she slowly eased back into traffic. She was half way to the office when Quinn called.

"I know you're probably on your way in but you might want to detour to the FBI field office," Quinn said.

"Why?" Olivia asked.

"Because they just took our client into custody," Quinn said. "And Harrison wasn't exactly cooperative so it's entirely possible that they decided to charge him with something."

"Something?" Olivia repeated. "You say that like you think there's something else going on."

"Isn't there always?" Quinn pointed out. "Huck's trying to see what he can find and Abby's checking out the client's apartment."

"Keep me posted," Olivia said before hanging up.

She pulled up to the Washington field office of the FBI ten minutes later. Grabbing her bag, she stalked into the lobby with her head high and shoulders back. _Gladiators in suits_, she thought to herself. _Time to kick some ass._

* * *

"Dad, dinner's ready," Karen said, poking her head into her father's study.

Fitz looked up from the book that he'd been successfully _not_ reading for the last two hours. He summoned a smile for his first-born. "I'll be down in a minute," he said. "Did you have a good time with your friends?"

He'd promised her at Thanksgiving that when she came back before Christmas, she could bring some of her friends with her. The house had been full of energetic teenage girls for the last three days. They'd finally gone home this morning.

"Yeah," Karen said. "Thanks for letting them come."

"Anytime," Fitz said.

Karen started to turn away but she hesitated and Fitz sensed her unease.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

"You tell me," Karen said, taking a few steps further into the room.

"What do you mean?" Fitz asked.

"It's just...you seem sad," Karen said.

Fitz blinked. That was the last thing he'd expected her to say, not because she was wrong but because he'd thought he'd done a better job of hiding it. When he was with her and Jerry, he did his best to give them his full attention and be the father that they needed him to be. It hadn't occurred to him that either one of them could see beyond that. Wasn't it just the other day that Karen had been taking her first steps, leaning on him and depending on him to guide her? Now she was the one asking him to confide in her.

"I thought maybe divorcing Mom would have done the trick," Karen continued when Fitz didn't reply. "And then I thought that being out of the White House would give you back whatever's missing but it's been a month and you seem _more_ sad, not less."

"Sweetheart," Fitz began.

"_Don't_ tell me I'm imagining it," Karen warned him, suddenly sounding exactly like her mother but oddly enough not in a bad way.

"It's an adjustment," Fitz finally said. "It's been a long time since I was on my own. It's going to take a little getting used to is all. But I'm fine. I don't want you wasting your time worrying about me."

"I'm not wasting time," Karen argued. "You're my dad. I love you and I want you to be happy."

Fitz got up from behind his desk and crossed the room so he could put an arm around Karen's shoulder. "I love you too, baby girl," he said pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "Let's go eat, huh?"

Karen sighed but she let the conversation drop and they walked downstairs into the kitchen where the housekeeper, Mrs. Thompson had served up dinner. Jerry was seated at the table, well on his way to finishing his first helping of rosemary chicken, mashed potatoes and green beans.

"You're such a pig, Jer," Karen said disgustedly, watching her brother shovel food into his mouth.

Jerry stuck his tongue out at her, never mind that he'd been mid-chew.

"Gross!" Karen said.

"Manners," Fitz chided his son.

Jerry rolled his eyes but his tongue disappeared back into his mouth. Fitz and Karen sat down and served themselves and the meal passed in a blur of conversation about fishing trips and horse races and the other things the kids were planning to do before they left to spend the holiday with their mother. After they finished eating and had cleaned up the kitchen, they decided to play poker. Competitive by nature and nurture, it was well into the night before all three Grants were satisfied that they were more or less even.

When the kids were asleep, Fitz headed out to the back porch and stared into the night. As always, the minute his mind wasn't actively engaged in anything, thoughts of Olivia took root. His first couple of days back at the ranch, all he'd been able to think about were the memories he had of her here; breaking down in her arms after his father's funeral, sneaking into her room at night just to hold her for a few hours while they slept, cornering her in the pantry to make out like horny teenagers for five minutes.

Lately though, he'd been thinking about Carly. Not that he hadn't always thought about her because he had. He'd driven himself half way insane for years wondering things like her favorite color, first words and who was going to teach her to ride a bike. But he'd still tried his best to create some kind of emotional distance. He'd only ever seen a few pictures of her as a baby, and that was because James hadn't known any better than to show them to him.

That night at the Lincoln memorial was the first time he'd looked at her and seen a fully formed tiny person staring back at him. And as much as he loved having Karen and Jerry around, spending time with them – especially Karen – made his absence from Carly's life even harder to bear. He'd think back to when Karen was that age and wonder how similar or different his girls actually were. He'd think about the things he'd been able to do with Karen and Jerry and that he'd never get to do with Carly. It killed him.

He'd talked himself into believing that he could deal with Carly not knowing the truth about him. He could still argue somewhere under the agony of it, was a nobler purpose. If people knew that Carly was his daughter, her life could turn into a circus over night and completely aside from the media exposure, there was the security threat as well. He didn't have Secret Service agents keeping tabs on Karen and Jerry for show.

The only thing worse than not being a part of Carly's life would be having something happen to her because of who he was. The mere thought of it was enough to make him feel sick.

He was going to have to find a way to cope though –with all of it – and he knew that. Karen was right. He was sad and he had been wallowing in it. He couldn't do that forever. At some point, he was going to have to make plans beyond how many glasses of scotch it took to attain momentary oblivion.

He had options, of course. Half a dozen universities had offered him teaching positions. Publishers galore were lining up to coax him into writing his memoires or a tell-all book about his two terms in office. The United Nations had offered him several Special Ambassador opportunities and in fact, Ban Ki Moon was talking about allowing him to craft his own platform to deal with whatever issues he wanted.

Not to mention, he had the option of starting his own charitable organization as Carter and Clinton had done. He was as popular or more so than either of them so the country, hell the world, was pretty much his oyster. Between his money and his influence, he could have anything he wanted.

Anything except the woman he loved and the daughter they'd made together.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hey all, work has been crazy so I haven't had as much time to write. And this chapter was pretty slow going in it's own right because there were some pretty important conversations happening and I wanted to do my best with getting the dialogue and the tone of everything right. You'll have to let me know how I did. Enjoy!**

* * *

"She's down for the count," Stephen announced as he came into the living room.

Olivia smiled and held a glass of wine in his direction. Carly had insisted that Uncle Stephen be the one to put her to bed. They adored each other and with Stephen still living in Boston, they didn't get to spend nearly enough time together.

"Thanks," Olivia said.

Stephen arched an eyebrow as he accepted the glass. "We're well past thanks, don't you think?" he asked.

Olivia shrugged.

"She's the closest to you of all the men in her life," she said. "She and Huck have their understanding and she has fun with Harrison but you're her favorite."

"That could change easily enough," Stephen said, sitting down next to her.

Olivia took a sip of wine. She knew what he was getting at and while she loved the idea of Carly falling head over heels for Fitz at first sight just like she had, she knew the reality could be more complicated.

"I don't know how easy it would be," Olivia said.

"Tell me why," Stephen said.

"I'm not sure where to start," Olivia said wryly.

"Are you worried about what it would be like with you and him or with him and Carly?" Stephen asked.

"Both," Olivia said. "I mean, so far as Carly's concerned, he's a stranger. She knows nothing about him. Maybe she's seen him on TV a couple of times but it's not like it registered. There's no guarantee that she'll take to him and I don't think either of us could handle it if she didn't."

"Carly takes well to almost everyone," Stephen pointed out.

"Except Edison," Olivia murmured.

"Yeah about that," Stephen said. "You ever think that maybe Edison is the one who didn't take to Carly? That she was just reacting to him?"

Olivia cocked her head to one side.

"Come on, Liv," Stephen said. "I know Carly is a mini you but it's not hard to see Fitz in her if you know what you're looking for. Edison might not have known the truth until that Fourth of July but he can't not have suspected."

Olivia sighed.

"I just worry," she said. "That all these ideas I had about what life would be like if the three of us were a family are going to turn out to have been criminally unrealistic. I mean, it's been six years. I've changed, I'm sure Fitz has too. What if all this…what if it's not actually real anymore?"

"You said he told you he still loves you," Stephen said.

"And I still love him," Olivia said "But we never had to make a relationship work. We had an affair and we were _so_ selfish. It can't be like that this time."

Stephen took a minute to digest her words before he spoke again.

"I think that the two of you need to spend some time alone," Stephen said. "Get to know each other all over again and see if things feel as right as you always thought they would. If they don't, you walk away."

"And if they do?" Olivia asked.

"Then you introduce him to Carly," Stephen said. "Let them build their own relationship and if you want to tell her the truth someday, you can."

He reached over and squeezed her hand.

"There's no pressure, Liv," he said. "You have _time."_

Olivia's lips parted in a little o of surprise as she realized that even with the finalization of her divorce on the horizon, she hadn't fully grasped all the implications. The fact that she and Fitz had been racing against a clock almost from the minute they met didn't help matters. She was so used to them _not_ having time that it was nearly impossible to fathom that as of now, they had all the time in the world.

"I have time," Olivia repeated. "_We_ have time."

Stephen smiled at her and swept the cordless phone off its base. He held it out to her with one eyebrow crooked upwards.

She took it and brushed a kiss over his cheek.

"_Thanks,_" she said.

"Don't mention it," Stephen said. "I'll see you in the morning."

Olivia nodded and disappeared into her bedroom. She'd thought about moving into one of the two guest bedrooms after Edison moved out but hadn't wanted to unsettle Carly. She'd opted for a little bit of redecorating instead. In the back of her mind though, she was already thinking about when they could move out and where to, regardless of how things developed with Fitz.

Olivia sucked in a deep breath as her fingers hovered over the keypad. In some ways, it felt like she'd been waiting her whole life for this moment. Her stomach was tied up in knots as she dialed the landline at the ranch.

The phone rang once, twice and then was answered – by a woman.

For a split second, Olivia felt rooted to the spot, her mind a jumble of doubts that she hadn't even thought to have. A month ago she'd told Fitz that nothing had changed. What if he'd decided to move on? Was it realistic to think that he wouldn't at least try?

"Hello?" the woman repeated.

And Olivia's senses came back to her in the nick of time.

"Karen?" she asked tentatively.

"Yeah, who is this?" Karen asked.

"It's Olivia," Olivia said. "Olivia Pope."

"Oh hey, Liv," Karen said. "You looking for my dad?"

"Is he around?" Olivia asked, trying even out her tone and sound as if she wasn't calling to tell the man she loved that they could have another chance; a real chance.

"Sure, hold on a sec," Karen said.

Olivia heard a few muffled sounds and then a shout.

"Dad!" Karen called out. "Phone for you! It's Olivia!"

Butterflies danced in Olivia's stomach and her heartbeat sped up as she waited for Fitz to come on the line.

"Livvy?"

His voice was smooth and deep and Olivia let it wash over her.

"Hi," she said softly.

"Hi," he said. "Is everything okay? Carly?"

"She's fine," Olivia said, something melting in her chest at his obvious concern. "Asleep."

"Oh," Fitz said.

"You said I should call if things changed," Olivia said.

"Is this you calling?" Fitz asked.

"This is me calling," Olivia said.

A soft snort escaped him, which was pretty much the last thing Olivia expected.

"My heart is pounding," he admitted. "I feel like a 12 year old kid about to sneak his first kiss. Sweaty palms and all."

Olivia laughed.

"Feels good, doesn't it?" she asked.

"It feels incredible," Fitz said in that low, intimate tone that was always just for her. "It feels like I can finally breathe again."

"I know what you mean," Olivia said.

She paused.

"Fitz?"

"Yeah?"

"My divorce is going to be final soon," Olivia said.

"Good," Fitz said simply.

"Edison knows the truth about Carly," Olivia said. "I never told him but he knows."

"Is it going to be a problem?" Fitz asked.

"Would you fix it if it was?" she asked.

"I'd do anything for you," Fitz said.

"Anything?" Olivia repeated.

"Anything," Fitz said.

"Carly," Olivia said.

"Her too," Fitz said.

"Even if anything means nothing?" Olivia asked.

Fitz was silent for a moment. Despite the time they'd spent apart, he still _knew_ Olivia, knew how she thought and where her fears lived. It wasn't hard to see what she was getting at.

"You don't want her to know the truth," Fitz said.

"I _do_ want her to know," Olivia countered. "But I want us to make sure that we're all ready for it before we tell her."

"Has the divorce been hard on her?" Fitz asked. "Does she…"

The end of that sentence stuck in his throat but Olivia didn't need him to finish.

"She hasn't asked for him at all," Olivia said.

"Then this isn't really about her," Fitz said. "It's about you. You're scared."

Olivia didn't deny it.

"Do you remember Austin?" she asked.

"I remember," Fitz said.

It had been one of the later stops on the campaign trail and the two of them had stayed up almost all night, talking, touching, and wrapping themselves up in a world where only the two of them existed. It was the only time that Fitz had ever been table to convince Olivia to play that game of what if with him.

They'd talked about where they'd live, what they'd do, how many kids they wanted, what kind of dog. They'd indulged themselves and created a fantasy that neither one of them truly believed could ever become reality.

"I want that for us," Olivia said. "I want it too much to rush; not now, not after everything we've both been through."

She had a point. Fitz knew she did but that didn't really make it any easier to hear. Wanting something for so long, knowing it was finally within reach, all he wanted to do was grab it and never let go.

"We have time, Fitz," Olivia whispered. "Think about what that actually means."

"You've had time to process," Fitz said. "I've had the last five minutes. I just…"

"That's fair," Olivia said. "If you need time to…"

"Sweet, sweet baby," Fitz said. "Don't be stupid. More time apart from you is the last thing I need. When can I see you?"

"My parents are going on a cruise after Christmas," Olivia said. "They've been after me to let them take Carly. We could have New Year's."

"Then let's have New Year's," Fitz said.

* * *

"Karen?" Fitz said. "What are you still doing up?"

He descended the last two steps into the kitchen. He and Olivia had stayed on the phone for two more hours, not so much to talk but just because they could. They'd soaked in the sound of each other breathing until Fitz sensed that Liv was starting to fall asleep. He'd whispered good night. She'd whispered that she loved him and he'd hung up feeling like the world was finally full of possibility again.

That optimism faded though as he took a good look at Karen's face. She looked wrecked. Her eyes were red and her hands were curled into the little fists on the tabletop. Fitz walked around the table and pulled a chair right next to her. He put a hand on her shoulder and she flinched away.

"Baby girl, what's the matter?" Fitz asked.

"I'm not though, am I?" Karen said. "Your baby girl."

"What are you talking about?" Fitz demanded. "Of _course_ you are. I was in the room when you were born, the first person to hold you. You are _my_ baby girl."

His tone left no room for doubt even if his mind was suddenly racing with them. He'd never questioned Karen or Jerry's paternity because things had been as good as they'd ever get with him and Mellie in those days. But Mellie was Mellie so maybe he shouldn't feel so certain. Maybe Karen had found something and…

"Who is Carly?" Karen asked.

It was only three words but Fitz felt as if he'd slammed straight into a brick wall.

"Karen," Fitz started.

"I didn't listen to the whole conversation," Karen said as if he hadn't even spoken. "I didn't need to. I heard you ask Olivia if everything was okay. You asked about someone named Carly and I recognized that voice because it's the same way you always asked about me or about Jerry when we were sick or if we were hurt. It's the voice I hear in my head whenever I think _Dad_."

Fitz thought and discarded a million words in the space of a few seconds. He could have lied, he could have tried to distract her or distort the truth. Instead he decided to be as honest as he could be.

"This isn't how I wanted you to find out," he finally said. "About Carly or about Olivia."

"I knew about Olivia," Karen said. "Or at least, I knew that there had been someone. I overheard Mom once. Then tonight I realized it had to have been Olivia and it makes so much sense because I remember how you used to look at her, how she used to look at you when she didn't think anyone was watching."

"I'm sorry," Fitz said.

Karen turned to look at him.

"Are you really?" she asked.

"I'm not proud of the fact that I was unfaithful to your mother," Fitz said. "That was never the kind of man that I wanted to be, never the example that I wanted to set for you or your brother. And I _am _sorry because even though you're growing up, you're still much too young to be burdened with my failings. But I can't apologize for being in love with Olivia, for the way that she makes me feel. I can't be sorry for that."

He lifted his hand to brush away the tears on her cheek and this time she didn't pull away.

"You asked me who Carly is," Fitz said. "She's my daughter; mine and Liv's. She's five."

"I have a little sister," Karen said.

Fitz pushed a breath past the tightness in his throat.

"Yeah," he said. "You do."

Karen sat back in her chair and pulled her feet up underneath her, wrapping her arms around her knees.

"All this time," she asked. "Have you and Liv…I mean does Carly…"

"No," Fitz said. "We broke things off just before she got married, before Carly was born."

Karen studied her father as the last pieces of the puzzle fit into place. No wonder he had that haunted look in his eyes sometimes. She couldn't begin to imagine what it would be like to have a child that didn't know you, that called another man _Daddy._

"And now?" Karen asked. "I mean she called so…"

"So we still have a lot of stuff to figure out," Fitz said.

"But you want to be with her, right?" Karen asked. "I mean that's what's been missing for you."

"I—yes," Fitz said. "Are you…is that something you can be okay with?"

"I want to say yes," Karen said. "Because I don't want you to be unhappy but it's weird, Dad. You have this kid and you love Olivia and you hate Mom so…"

"Hey," Fitz said, coaxing her into his lap. "How I feel about your mother has nothing to do with you and me. I don't love Carly more than you because of the way I feel about her mother. That's not how being a parent works."

Karen tucked her head under his chin, the way she used to when she was younger and looking for comfort.

"I have a lot of regrets about a lot of things," Fitz said. "But you and your brother are not one of them. I love you both and nothing can ever change that."

"Do you promise?" Karen asked.

"I promise," Fitz said.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: This story is pretty much writing itself at the moment. Have I mentioned that I love it when that happens? Thanks for all the wonderful reviews. I get a real kick out of reading them. :-) Enjoy!**

* * *

"Can I help you girls with anything?" Eleanor Pope asked.

Olivia looked up from the celery that she was chopping for the stuffing and flashed a smile at her mother.

"We've got everything handled," she said.

"And even if we didn't this is your Carly time," Abby said, making a shooing motion. "Take advantage."

Eleanor waved a dismissive hand.

"Carly is busy tying her grandfather up in knots," she said." And I'll have plenty of time with her now that she's joining us on the cruise."

Abby arched an eyebrow in Olivia's direction – a signal that they would be talking about that new bit of information – but made no comment.

"Well, if you _insist_," Abby said lightly. "You can help me finish up these pies."

Eleanor reached for an apron and washed her hands. Olivia turned back to her chopping board and reached for an onion. Her parents had been thrilled when Olivia agreed to let them take Carly. So thrilled that they hadn't questioned why she'd had a sudden change in heart. The vague work related excuse she'd given them had been more than enough.

It wouldn't be for Abby though. She'd want details and Olivia wasn't certain just how much she wanted to reveal. Stephen was one thing; he'd known about her relationship with Fitz for years. But Olivia hadn't ever discussed it or confirmed it with any of the rest of her team. Not even Huck and Olivia knew that he knew.

Wanting a distraction but not in the mood to join in the small talk that Abby and her mother were making, Olivia reached for the remote and switched on the TV that sat in the wall above the counter. She flipped it to BNC and listened to the headlines as she finished with the onion and moved onto the dates.

"…_And in his first public appearance since leaving the White House, former president Fitzgerald Grant III spent Christmas morning at the Lucie Packard Children's Hospital in Palo Alto, California. President Grant visited several patients and their families but made no comment to the press as he was leaving. A spokesperson for the hospital revealed that President Grant wanted to "keep things low – key". "We're delighted that he chose to dedicate some of his time to our patients. He was great with the kids and I think all the parents, certainly all of the staff here appreciated his making the time on the holiday. We look forward to his next visit."_

"Olivia!" Abby shouted.

"What?" Olivia asked, not wanting to tear her eyes away from the screen, away from Fitz. He was even more devastatingly handsome than normal, dressed casually in jeans and a button down dark green shirt.

"You're bleeding," Abby said.

Olivia blinked and looked down at her hand. She'd apparently sliced her finger when she'd snapped around to face the TV at the first mention of Fitz's name.

"Shit," Olivia said, moving her hand over to the sink and flipping the water on.

"Mommy, that's a bad word!" Carly piped up, sounding scandalized as she skipped into the kitchen.

"You're right," Olivia said. "I shouldn't have said it. I'm sorry. Do you forgive me?"

"I guess so," Carly said, feigning exaggerated reluctance.

Abby appeared at Olivia's side with the first aid kit. Carly frowned.

"You hurt," she accused.

"Just a little cut, baby," Olivia said, smoothing her other hand over her daughter's head. "I'll be fine. Auntie Abby is going to fix me right up."

"I sure am," Abby said, flashing Carly a smile. "Do you want to help?"

Carly nodded so Abby handed her a band- aid to open and then helped her secure the bandage over Olivia's finger.

"Be more careful, Mommy," Carly advised when they had finished.

"That's good advice, pumpkin," Olivia said. "I promise I will."

Carly scampered off back to the living room where her impressive haul of Christmas presents were piled.

"Why don't you let me finish this?" Eleanor said, approaching the counter that was littered with the fixings for the stuffing.

"Mom, I'm fine," Olivia protested. "And you made breakfast."

"You work hard and you've been taking care of Carly on your own," Eleanor said. "What's a mother for if not to give you a break when you need it? Go relax. Talk to your father about politics."

"I thought you wanted me to relax," Olivia joked.

"Oh shoo," Eleanor said, waving her daughter away. "Abby and I will finish in the kitchen. What time are the rest of your guests getting here?"

"In about an hour," Olivia said. She'd invited Harrison, Huck and Quinn as well as Cyrus and James to join them for Christmas dinner. Stephen had gone back to England to see his family.

"Go pretty yourself up then," Eleanor said.

"Yeah, Liv," Abby said. "Then you can send him a picture."

Olivia shot her friend a warning glare.

"Send who a picture?" Eleanor asked.

"No one," Olivia said. "Abby's just trying to get under my skin."

"So you're not seeing anyone?" Eleanor pressed.

"You'd be the first to know, Mom," Olivia said lightly. "I'm going to go take a shower if I'm not needed."

Abby and Eleanor exchanged a look and Olivia scowled.

"Don't think I won't know if you talk about me behind my back," she said.

"As if we would dare," Eleanor said.

Olivia snorted and disappeared up the back staircase and then walked down the hall to her bedroom. Stripping out of her sweats, she stepped into the shower and turned the hot water on. As soon as her eyes closed, Fitz's face floated behind her eyelids.

The physical reaction was instant but so was the emotional one. The fact that he'd gone to the children's hospital this morning wasn't random. It was something they'd talked about in Austin. Fitz had told her that he used to take Karen and Jerry to local hospitals or orphanages or shelters on holidays. He wanted them grow up understanding the importance of generosity and service.

Mellie had hated it and when Karen was five, she'd flatly refused to allow it anymore. Until of course, Fitz had gotten into politics and she recognized it for the photo op that it was. But since Fitz had wanted kids to remember that doing good for other people was what you did even when – especially when – there was no credit in it for you, the minute it had become a political exercise, he'd been the one refusing to include them.

Olivia had taken up the tradition with Carly though. On Thanksgiving, they'd volunteered the afternoon at shelter for battered women and kids in South East DC. Olivia had had one of her proudest moments as a mother when Carly had – without any prompt from anyone – given away her favorite stuffed seal to a little boy, clinging to his mother's leg. The boy's smile had been a beautiful sight.

Yesterday, they'd gone to Children's Hospital and handed out presents to patients in the cancer ward. Olivia reached for her shampoo and made a mental note to send Fitz some of those pictures. She made another mental note to take Carly's baby book with her when she went to California at the end of the week.

Two days, she told herself. In two days, she'd be on the other side of the country, with Fitz, alone with Fitz. Olivia felt a flutter in her stomach and she wasn't sure if it was nerves or excitement. Probably both.

She didn't doubt that things would get physical between them. They were taking the relationship part of this slowly, but they'd never been able to tame the attraction that existed between them. When they were physically close to each other, it was almost impossible not to let the flames engulf them.

But it had been six years and it was the first time they'd be together as free agents so to speak. That was bound to make things different, which explained the nerves. Finishing her shower, Olivia grabbed a towel off the heated rack and wrapped it around herself. Taking a smaller towel, she wound it around her head and then padded back into her bedroom.

Reaching for her cell phone, she dialed Fitz. He answered on the second ring.

"Hi," he said, his voice warm.

"Hi," Olivia said.

"Hello," Fitz said.

Olivia smiled at the familiar exchange.

"Busy morning you had there, Mr. President," Olivia said.

Fitz chuckled.

"Saw that, did you?" he asked.

"You wanted me to see it," Olivia pointed out.

"I did," Fitz said. "I was thinking of you. I'm always thinking of you."

"Carly and I went to Children's Hospital yesterday," Olivia said. "It's a thing for us."

"I'm glad," Fitz said.

"I've tried to make it so even though she doesn't know you," Olivia said. "She _knows_ you, knows the things that are important to you, that you'd want her to learn."

"Sweet baby," Fitz sighed.

"Her middle initial is G," Olivia said. "Everyone thinks it stands for Grace but really it was just me trying to make sure that she had a piece of you even if no one knew it but me."

"It never got easier, did it?" Fitz asked softly.

"I kept thinking it would," Olivia said. "But it was always the little things."

Olivia sat down on the edge of her bed.

"Okay, let's talk about something else," Olivia said. "What are your plans for the rest of the afternoon?"

"I haven't decided yet," Fitz said.

"Fitzgerald Thomas Grant," Olivia said. "Tell me you're not planning to spend Christmas alone on that ranch."

"I'm not planning to spend Christmas alone on that ranch," Fitz repeated dutifully.

"Fitz!" Olivia said.

"Honestly, Liv," Fitz said. "It's not that big of a deal. Jill invited me over to their house but I think I'd rather be out with the horses."

Jill was the black sheep of Mellie's family; the rebellious baby sister who had rejected Harvard in favor of Tulane so she could be on the ground in New Orleans helping people recover after another major hurricane.

She'd followed that "outrage" by taking off for Thailand after she graduated, backpacking through Asia and coming back to the States married to the son of an Australian rancher. They'd moved to California with their sons not long after Fitz became Governor.

"Go to Jill's," Olivia said. "You like Jill."

"I do like Jill," Fitz agreed.

"And you like Mark," Olivia persisted.

"I like Mark," Fitz said.

"And when was the last time you saw Ryan and Jake?" Olivia asked.

"At Jerry's birthday party last year," Fitz said.

"So go to Jill's," Olivia repeated. "Do it for me."

"You're tough," Fitz said.

"That's why you love me," Olivia said.

"One of many reasons," Fitz said. " I need to tell you something."

"That sounds ominous," Olivia said.

"When you called the other day and Karen answered," Fitz began. "She was in the kitchen and I picked up from my study."

Olivia connected the dots immediately.

"She heard us?" Olivia asked.

"Not all of it," Fitz said. "But enough to start putting some pieces together, especially since she already knew that there had been someone else while I was married to her mother."'

"So what did you do?" Olivia asked.

"I told her the truth," Fitz said.

Olivia licked her lips.

"How did she take it?" she asked.

"All things considered, pretty well," Fitz said. "But it's going to take some getting used to. I think she _wants_ to be okay with it, she's just not there yet."

"That's fair," Olivia said. "Maybe we…"

"Don't even think it, Olivia," Fitz said firmly. "You are getting on a plane in two days and you're coming to California. If you don't, I'll have to fly to DC and you know that will make a _lot_ more waves."

Olivia sighed.

"We can do this," Fitz said. "We can handle this and make it work."

"How are you so sure?" Olivia asked.

"I've always been sure," Fitz said. "As long as we're in this together, we'll make it work."

"We are in it together," Olivia said.

"I haven't told Jerry yet," Fitz said. "I wanted to talk to you first and Karen understands that. She promised not to say anything until I talk to him."

"Will it be harder or easier than telling Karen?" Olivia asked.

"Different," Fitz said. "Karen is starting to realize that parents are just people, that we have flaws. Jerry just thinks of us as Mom and Dad. And Mellie has been working overtime since the divorce to make up for the years of neglect, whether because she actually wants to have a good relationship with him or because she's planning to run for office…your guess is as good as mine."

"He loves his mother," Olivia said. "You can't blame a kid for that."

"No," Fitz said. "Especially not after I worked so damn hard to make sure he never realizes how unlovable she actually is."

"You think he's going to be angry with you," Olivia said.

"It's possible," Fitz said. "But he'll come around eventually."

"This is still really complicated, isn't it?" Olivia asked. "We're about to disrupt a lot of lives, Fitz. Are we being selfish?"

"Maybe a little," he said. "But I think we've earned it. And I think that in long run, our family – all of our family – will be better off for it."

"Mommy!" Carly cried running into the room. "Come downstairs, now!"

Olivia arched an eyebrow at her daughter.

"What did we discuss the last time?" she asked. "About when you want Mommy to do something?"

"Ask, don't tell," Carly said, with a pout.

"Right," Olivia said.

"Mommy can you come downstairs, please," Carly said. "Now."

"Mommy is on the phone," Olivia said.

"Hang up," Carly said.

Olivia's eyebrow started to creep up again.

"Please," Carly rushed to add.

Olivia bit down on her lip to stifle a laugh.

"When I finish my conversation and get dressed, I'll come downstairs," Olivia said. "Give me a few more minutes."

"Who you talking to?" Carly asked, scrambling up next to her mother on the bed.

"Someone you haven't met yet," Olivia said. "Do you want to say hi?"

The question came out on impulse but Olivia didn't take it back.

"Okay," Carly said

Olivia pressed the speakerphone button and nodded at Carly.

"Hi!" Carly said brightly.

"Hello, Carly," Fitz said.

"You know my name!" Carly exclaimed.

"Your mother has told me a lot about you," Fitz said.

Olivia could hear the emotion in his voice and it brought tears to her eyes. She had to blink furiously to keep them from falling.

"Did she tell you I got an ann-teek dollhouse for Christmas?" Carly wanted to know.

"No," Fitz said. "She didn't mention that. Do you have enough dolls for a whole dollhouse?"

"Yes," Carly said. "I have seven. Grandma and Auntie Abby are cooking so I tried to play dolls with Grandpa but he doesn't understand dolls. That's why Mommy has to come downstairs now."

She glanced at her mother.

"Please," she added.

Fitz chuckled.

"I promise not to keep her on the phone for much longer," he said.

"Why don't you go get the tea set?" Olivia suggested. "We can have a tea party for the dolls before dinner."

Carly's eyes sparkled.

"Okay!" she said.

She clambered off the bed.

"Bye!" she said into the telephone.

"Bye," Fitz said. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas!" Carly replied, rolling out her r's so it sounded like Merrrrrrrrrrrrry Christmas.

She bounded out of the room and Olivia switched the speaker off.

"I sprung that on you without warning," Olivia said. "I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize," Fitz said thickly. "I couldn't have asked for a better Christmas present than that. She's amazing."

"She kind of is," Olivia agreed. "I should go. Call me later. When you get back from Jill's."

"Merry Christmas, sweet baby," Fitz said. "I love you."

"Merry Christmas," Olivia said. "I love you too."

They both waited a beat.

"Bye," Olivia said and hung up.

She looked across the room to find Abby leaning in the doorway.

"So tell me, Liv," she said. "Who exactly do you love too?"


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: This chapter threw a few unexpected developments at me but nothing that's going to change the overall direction of the story. Ultimately, this is all about Olivia and Fitz's relationship and what they have to work through to get the life they've both wanted for so long. I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

"I understand this might be an odd notion to you," Olivia said. "But knocking is the polite thing to do."

"Reprimanding my etiquette is not going to get you out of this conversation," Abby said decisively. She closed the door and crossed the room. "I haven't said a word this last month. You tell me you're getting divorced and I didn't ask any questions."

"You didn't _have_ any questions," Olivia said. "You've been waiting for this marriage to end before it even started."

"I wasn't waiting for the marriage to end," Abby said. "I was waiting for you to stop punishing yourself."

"Is that what you think I was doing?" Olivia asked.

"In a way," Abby said. "You got married because you were pregnant, because you thought it was right for your baby. But you _knew_ it wasn't right for you and honestly? I think that's part of the reason you went through with it."

"You're not one to hold back," Olivia said. "Why didn't you ever say this before?"

"Because I know you," Abby said. "And because I didn't want to make you more miserable than you already were."

Abby gave her a shrewd look.

"But something's different now and it isn't just your impending singledom," Abby said. "I think it has to do with the man who nearly made you sever a limb this morning. The same man that you were just on the phone with?"

"I cut my finger," Olivia said. "I did not nearly sever a limb."

"You're not answering my question," Abby said.

"Are you actually asking one?" Olivia countered.

"Were you, yes or no, on the phone with the former president of the United States, Fitzgerald Grant?" Abby asked.

Olivia stared at her friend and reminded herself that she didn't have to hide this anymore. Granted, she wasn't going to go around broadcasting it to the world – given who she was and who Fitz was, who their former spouses were, discretion made sense – but she could confide in people she trusted. She and Fitz loved each other and it was _okay_ to tell people.

"Yes," Olivia said.

"You said 'I love you too' so that means he said 'I love you' first," Abby said.

"He did," Olivia said, lips curling upwards.

"Your eyes smile when you talk about him," Abby said, cocking her head to one side. "The only other person you get that look for is Carly."

"The first time I really looked into his eyes," Olivia confessed. "I felt all the empty places inside me fill up, places I didn't even know were there. He makes me feel whole."

"I'm going to ask this, not because I don't already know the answer but because I think you need to say it out loud," Abby said. "Is Carly his?"

Olivia felt the tears spring back to her eyes. Leave it to Abby to know, to understand.

"Carly is Fitz's daughter," Olivia said. "His and mine. Ours."

"You're going to see him?" Abby asked. "That's why Carly's suddenly cruise bound?"

Olivia nodded.

"We're taking things kind of slow," she said. "We love each other but we've never been in a relationship before if that makes sense. We need to make it solid before we tell Carly the truth."

'What about his kids?" Abby asked.

"Karen knows and he's going to tell Jerry soon," Olivia said. "I'm not totally sure how that's going to play out but we'll make it work."

"And in the meantime," Abby said. "We have to go shopping tomorrow."

"We do?" Olivia asked.

"Really, Olivia?" Abby said. "You're going away to spend a weekend?"

"A week," Olivia said.

"A week with the love of your life?"

"Yes."

"And you're not planning to stock up on outrageously sexy lingerie?" Abby said. "What's the matter with you?"

"Good point," Olivia said. "We're going shopping."

"Now get dressed," Abby instructed. "Harrison is downstairs trying to hold his own with your father. Carly's protecting him but I'm not sure how much longer she can keep it up."

Olivia smothered a laugh and got off the bed to inspect the contents of her closet. She decided on a cream- colored dress with red flowers stitched across the skirt. She put it on after blow-drying her hair straight and putting on a little bit of make up. Slipping her feet into a pair of red kitten heels, she made her way downstairs just as Cyrus, James and their six-year-old daughter Gaia arrived.

Gaia and Carly immediately took off for the den and the adults settled in the living room. Olivia went into the kitchen to check on the turkey and Cyrus followed her. He saw the TV on.

"I take it you saw, then," he said.

"Don't look so unhappy, Cy," Olivia teased him. "I don't think it was a statement of intent."

Cyrus didn't seem the least bit reassured.

"He needs an international platform," Cyrus said. "One where he can use his political capital to influence foreign policy because god knows if we leave it up to that idiot that Langston wants to put in the State Department…."

"What do you know?" Olivia asked curiously.

Rumors always swirled about cabinet appointments but so far none of the names that Olivia had heard rang true.

"Grayson Samuel," Cyrus spat.

Olivia nearly choked on the sip of water that she'd just taken.

"You're not serious," she said. "The man is a walking diplomatic nightmare. What the hell is Sally thinking?"

"Clearly, the woman is _incapable_ of thought," Cyrus said. "That or she's deliberately trying to sabotage this country's reputation and influence overseas."

"Wow," Olivia said.

"Fitz has got to be ready to step up if this goes through," Cyrus said. "He's got to be vocal about the importance of our diplomatic efforts in East Sudan. We _just_ got the African Union to make some serious commitments to peacekeeping on the Continent. We pull out of there now and the whole thing falls apart again."

"Maybe so," Olivia said. " But Sally's not going to want to look like she's still taking orders from him."

"She damn well should be," Cyrus muttered.

Olivia smiled.

"Relax, Cy," she said. "Be a dad."

Cyrus grumbled.

"As a dad I don't want the president of the United States pissing off more people than she has already," he said. "I don't want the actions of her administration to provoke another 9/11."

"You're borrowing trouble," Olivia said. "Too much of it. And on Christmas,"

She shook her head at him.

"Shame on you," she teased.

Cyrus rolled his eyes at her and Olivia switched off the stove and then linked arms with him. They went back into the living room.

"Dinner's ready whenever you all are," Olivia said.

"I'm starved," Alvin Pope announced.

"I guess that's that then," his wife said, shaking her head even though she was smiling.

"You going to sit with Grandpa?" Alvin asked Carly.

"Yes but only if Huck can sit with us too," Carly said, reaching for Huck's hand.

He let her take it, his grip gentle as a lamb. He didn't say anything but Carly beamed at him. Alvin shot a look at Olivia, who just shrugged.

Everyone was making their way into the dining room when the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it," Olivia said.

She walked to the front door and swung it open, startled to see Edison standing there.

"Hello Olivia," he said.

"Hi," she said. "We were just going to sit down to dinner."

"Don't let me interrupt," Edison said. "I just wanted to drop this off."

He handed her a manila envelope.

"I've already signed them," he said. "Send them to the lawyers after you do the same."

"Okay," Olivia said.

"And this is for Carly," Edison said, holding up a box.

"You don't want to come in and give it to her yourself?" Olivia asked.

"She'll forget about me faster if she doesn't have to see me," Edison said.

"That's not…" Olivia began.

"It's okay, Olivia," Edison said. "We're over. You and me and me and Carly; all of it is finally over. Merry Christmas."

He turned and walked away before she could say anything else. Stepping back inside, Olivia closed the door but she made no move to go into the dining room.

"Everything okay, sweetie?" Eleanor asked.

"That was Edison," Olivia said. "He dropped off the final divorce papers and a present for Carly."

Eleanor studied her daughter. Olivia had always been one to keep her own council, even as a child. Eleanor hadn't pried into the secrets of her daughter's marriage even as it became obvious very early on that all wasn't well.

"You feel guilty," Eleanor said.

"I hurt him," Olivia said. "I really didn't mean to do that."

"He's a grown man," Eleanor said. "And he knew what he was getting into with you."

"How do you figure?" Olivia asked.

"I figure because if you'd loved him enough to _want_ to marry him, you'd have done it the first time he asked you," Eleanor said. "But you didn't and that tells me all I need to know. It should have told him too."

Olivia set the envelope and the gift on the hallway table and then gave her mother a hug.

"Love you, Mama," she said.

"Love you too, precious," she said. "Now let's go feed this family before we have a riot on our hands."

* * *

"You look a lot less miserable than the last time I saw you," Jill said as Fitz walked through the door.

"The last time you saw me I was still married to your sister," Fitz said.

"My point exactly," Jill said with a grin.

She gave him a tight hug.

"It's good to see you, Fitz," she said.

"You too," Fitz said, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"The boys are out back raising hell with their cousins," Jill explained. "Mark's brother is here with his family. It's been a mad house."

She led the way through a spacious foyer and out a side door into the yard.

"Guys!" Jill called out. "Look who's here!"

Fitz smiled and shook hands as introductions were performed. He even posed for a photo with Mark's sister in law who gushed that all her friends in Sydney would be jealous as hell.

"I think you're the most popular president America's ever had, with non- Americans," Mark said, with a laugh.

"That was important to me," Fitz said. "I've always believed that an important part of America's interests are served by having good relationships overseas."

"Amen to that," Jill said. "You want to write a memo to Sally Langston? The clowns she's thinking about nominating for Secretary of State belong on bad late night TV."

"You sure you haven't been talking to Cyrus Beene?" Fitz teased her.

Jill shot him a curious look.

"Forget I asked," he said. "And let's forget that I was president, while we're at it. I took me eight years to get out of Washington. I'm in no rush to jump back into that pool of political sharks."

"Fair enough," Mark's brother, Liam said. "Can I get you a beer?"

"Sounds good," Fitz said, settling into one of the poolside loungers. He let the conversation flow around him, adding the occasional anecdote. But mostly he watched the kids run around and replayed his brief conversation with Carly again and again and again in his mind.

He'd been frozen in place when he first heard her voice in the background. Like a man starved for water, he'd gulped down every word out of her mouth, committing the sound of her voice to memory. The last thing he'd expected was for Olivia to put her on the line, even if she hadn't given the child any details about who she was actually talking to.

Of all the ways Fitz had imagined speaking to Carly for the first time, he'd never imagined it like that and oddly enough that made it even sweeter.

"You're in another world, aren't you?" Jill said, breaking into his thoughts.

"That obvious?" Fitz asked.

"Any reason you couldn't be there?" Jill asked.

"Be where?" Fitz asked.

"Wherever it is that you'd obviously rather be," Jill said smiling.

"A couple of reasons," Fitz said lightly.

"Well, I hope they won't hold you back for long," Jill said.

"How did you do it?" Fitz asked her. "Just let it all go and do what _you_ wanted?"

"In a way, I think I have Mellie to thank," Jill said. "She was everything that Mom and Dad wanted in a daughter. There was no way I could improve on "perfection". I knew it, Mellie knew it and so did Mom and Dad. They never made me try."

She laughed.

"I don't think they thought I would go as far outside the box as I did but…" she shrugged. "They more or less got over it."

"More or less?" Fitz asked.

"Less until the boys were born," Jill said. "Then they saw the potential to groom another generation and all was forgiven."

She took a sip of her wine and leaned back in the lounge chair next to his.

"So how are Karen and Jerry doing?" she asked. "I take it they're in Boston with Mellie?"

"Yeah," Fitz said. "They were here for a few days last week. I should have brought them to visit."

"Next time," Jill said. "It must be nice getting to spend time with them now that you're not "the leader of the free world"."

"It has been nice to have the pressure off," Fitz agreed. "Not sure how long it's going to stay off though."

"That's the price you pay for being popular," Jill said.

"Maybe," Fitz said. "But there's a lot to be said for living a more anonymous life."

"I imagine for you more than most," Jill said.

Fitz's cell phone rang and he glanced at the caller id. It was flashing restricted. Warily, Fitz answered.

"Hello?" he said.

"President Grant, this is Paul Morton."

Fitz's brows knit together. Paul Morton had replaced Billy Chambers as Sally Langston's Chief of Staff.

"What can I do for you, Paul?" Fitz said.

"We have a situation and we need your help," Morton said.

Fitz blinked.

For Sally Langton to agree to call him, whatever situation had developed had to be of nearly catastrophic proportions. Fitz got a sinking feeling in his stomach.

"What can I do?" he asked.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Bear with me a bit because this chapter is pretty much a transition and transitions are what I consider a necessary evil. Different parts of what happens in this chapter will come into play again even if I haven't determined exactly how. The reunion that I know all of you are waiting for is going to happen in the next chapter so don't worry I'm not stalling! Also, I have to thank one of my reviewers - Clio1792 - for an idea she put into my head in her last review. I can't believe it didn't occur to me but I'm definitely going to play with it and see what comes out. In the meantime, enjoy Diplomat!Fitz and the rest of this chapter.**

**Oh and one more thing; I'm taking a fair bit of creative license with all things government and military related so if I've made any atrocious mistakes, please forgive me. :-)**

* * *

The door closed behind him and Fitz turned to face the screens in front of him. A car had come to pick him up from Jill's an hour ago and taken him to a helicopter, which had in turn flown him to the nearest military facility – the Marine Corps Logistics Base in Barstow.

Now, he was alone in a secure room and staring at the President, the Vice President Vincent Lawson, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, all of who were in the White House Sit Room.

"Thank you for coming," Sally said stiffly.

"Madame President," Fitz said, evenly.

"I assume you were briefed on route?" she asked.

"About the hostage situation and how you chose to resolve it, yes," Fitz said. "On why you called me, not exactly."

"Obviously, given the nature of assets that were being held, we had to move fast," Sally said. "And given the nature of the threat, we had to move decisively. There wasn't time to coordinate with Islamabad."

"What exactly happened?" Fitz asked. "The assets were being held in Peer Kalai, which last I checked was inside the Afghan border."

"We sent a team of Marines in to recover the hostages," Lawson explained. "Once they were out, the order was given to take out the enemy camp from the air."

"You flew through Pakistani airspace," Fitz said, not really asking a question.

"Like I said, we were short on time," Sally said. "But now we've got Tariq Kazmi threatening to cut off diplomatic relations entirely."

"And our intelligence suggests unusually high levels of activity at their nuclear facilities in Balochistan," General Jones added.

"Christ," Fitz muttered. This would be a bad situation under any circumstances but so soon into the new administration, it could have far reaching and long-term consequences.

Sally shot him a narrow look but managed to refrain from comment.

"And what exactly is it that you want me to do?" Fitz asked.

"You had a relatively good relationship with Kazmi," Morton said. "Make a call, see if you can't get him to see sense."

Fitz was silent for a moment. When he had come into office, US- Pakistani relations had been at an all time low. He'd put a fair amount of work into trying to rectify that but had really only made headway when Tariq Kazmi was elected three years ago. The two of them had learned to respect each other even when their interests didn't completely align.

It was precisely because Fitz had learned to get a handle on the man that he knew how quickly this situation could spiral out of control. Kazmi wouldn't take the breach of sovereignty lightly and he was entirely capable of cutting off all diplomatic channels, even if such a thing would destabilize the whole region.

"I'll make the call," Fitz said. "But you're going to have to give me power to negotiate."

"Find out what he wants and let's go from there," Sally said.

"Patch it through," Fitz said.

A few moments later, the call had been connected.

"President Grant," Kazmi said. "This is a surprise."

"A welcome one, I hope," Fitz said.

"That all depends on your purpose," Kazmi said.

"My purpose is the same as it was when I was in office," Fitz said. "To make sure that our two countries work together wherever and whenever we can to serve our mutual interests."

"Unfortunately, your successor does not seem to share that motivation," Kazmi said. "You have heard no doubt about the raid that was conducted and the unauthorized use of Pakistani airspace?"

"Yes, I'm aware of the situation," Fitz said. "It's regrettable that the proper protocols were not observed but under the circumstances I'm afraid it was unavoidable."

"Exactly what circumstances were these?" Kazmi asked.

Fitz glanced at the screen as he spoke.

"I'm not at liberty to say," Fitz said.

"Of course," Kazmi said and Fitz didn't miss the edge in his tone. "You can understand that this does nothing to assuage my frustrations with the actions of your government."

"I do understand," Fitz said. "But I can assure you that this was an isolated occurrence and that President Langston and her administration are committed to solidifying our alliance. So you tell me what it's going to take to put us back on the road to that kind of progress."

"It is unusual for a new president to rely on their predecessor in this way," Kazmi said, replying sideways. "Is President Langston unable or unwilling to speak with me?"

"Not at all," Fitz said, lying through his teeth. "She simply felt that given the positive relationship we developed during my time in office, I might be able to facilitate a speedy resolution to our current problem. I'm sure you agree that great leaders know how to delegate and make the best use of all the assets at their disposal."

"Indeed," Kazmi said, with a quiet chuckle.

There was a moment of silence before he spoke again.

"You earned my respect President Grant," Kazmi said. "And in the time that we worked together, you proved to be a man of your word."

"I'm always careful about what I promise," Fitz said. "That hasn't changed."

"I want no promises from you," Kazmi said. "Tell President Langston that she will have to forge her own path if she wishes to maintain amicable relations with Pakistan and in the meantime, I am sure she will understand that I must be firm in my response to yesterday's events. Internally and regionally, we cannot be seen as puppets for the Americans."

"Nor would we want you to be," Fitz said. "But cutting all diplomatic ties is not the answer. Neither is mobilizing your nuclear capabilities. We have to keep talking if we're going to reach a compromise."

"There can be no compromise about this," Kazmi said. "The next time your country enters our airspace illegally, there will be severe consequences."

"No compromise then," Fitz said. " What about damage control?"

"We will publically condemn the actions of the Langston administration," Kazmi said. "And make it clear that no such abuse of Pakistani sovereignty will be tolerated in future. We can leave it there for the time being."

Fitz had no trouble reading between the lines. Kazmi was being more than reasonable under the circumstances and that meant he wanted something.

"What's that going to cost us?" Fitz asked.

"We believe you have a man named Abdullah Alfassi at your facility in Guantanamo," Kazmi said slowly. "We would like to have him extradited back to Pakistan."

"That can be arranged," Fitz said, ignoring the furious looks from Sally, Lawson and Morton. "You'll hear from us soon."

"Excellent," Kazmi said. "I don't know when you and I will get the chance to speak again, President Grant. As-Salaamu `Alaykum; peace be upon you."

"Wa `alaykumu s-salāmu wa rahmatu l-lāhi wa barakātuh," Fitz answered. "May peace, god's mercy and blessings be upon you."

The connection was cut and Sally wasted no time in lambasting him.

"Just what do you think you were doing?" she demanded. "Agreeing to hand over one of our…"

"Alfassi is a mid-level Al Qaeda operative," Fitz interrupted. "We've had him for the last 20 months and he gave us enough to bring in some of our higher level targets. The only reason he wasn't executed is because we anticipated that he could make for useful leverage one day. That day is today."

"That wasn't your call," Lawson said.

"The President made it my call when she asked me to speak to President Kazmi on her behalf," Fitz said. "It's done now. Let's hash out the details."

There was a bit more grumbling but they got down to work and two and a half hours later, Fitz was on the road back to the ranch in an armored Army vehicle. He got home shortly after nine, which meant it was just after midnight in D.C. He decided to take a chance on Olivia still being up.

She answered on the first ring.

"I was waiting for you," she said, sounding sleepy. "Did you have fun at Jill's?"

"For a while," Fitz agreed. "But I didn't stay long. Something came up."

"Oh?" Olivia asked, sounding more alert. "Everything okay?"

"It is now," Fitz said.

Olivia huffed.

"Don't tease," she said.

"Paul Morton called me," Fitz said. "They needed the cavalry."

"You're the cavalry now?" Olivia asked, amused.

"Apparently so," Fitz said.

"Did you avert the crisis?" Olivia asked.

"For now," Fitz said. "I also took a minute to suggest that Isabel Flores might make for an excellent Secretary of State."

"Good choice," Olivia said. "And a smart choice for Sally. It'll solidify the support of women voters and even help her narrow that gap in her approval ratings among minorities."

"One woman, several stones," Fitz said. "Assuming Sally goes for it. I don't think she's entirely impressed with my recommendations at the moment."

"Did it give you ideas?" Olivia asked. "Being back in the hot seat like that?"

"A few," Fitz admitted. "But mostly it made me realize how much I'm looking forward to focusing on our family and the life we're going to build together."

"Will it be enough?" Olivia wanted to know, voicing a fear that had been sitting in the back of her mind, biding its time.

"Yes," Fitz said simply.

He could have elaborated. He could have told her that the power and adrenaline that came from those make or break decisions was no substitute for the things that really mattered in life. He could have told her their future would be more than enough, that it would be _everything_ but he knew Olivia and he knew the more he said, the less reassured she would feel. She didn't need to hear the words so much as she needed to hear the conviction in his voice, the love.

"36 hours and counting," Olivia said.

Fitz smiled, knowing that he'd managed to banish that particular demon from her mind.

" The longest 36 hours of my life," Fitz said.

"Worth the wait?" Olivia asked.

"You always are," Fitz said.

* * *

"You going to be good for Grandma and Grandpa?" Olivia asked.

Carly nodded sleepily.

"That's my girl," Olivia said. "I'm going to miss you."

"Come with us," Carly mumbled.

"Next time, baby," Olivia said. "Mommy has some things that she needs to take care of. But you have fun, okay? And take lots of pictures."

Carly's only response was to yawn and snuggle deeper under the covers.

Olivia smiled,

"Love you, baby," she said, pressing a kiss to Carly's forehead. "Good night."

"G'night," Carly said, her eyes drifting shut.

Olivia spent a few minutes, sitting on the edge of the bed watching her daughter fall asleep. When Carly was a baby, Olivia had spent countless hours in the nursery watching her sleep, not because she was paranoid or scared that something would happen but because it kept her grounded. It reminded her of why she'd made the decisions that she'd made and it had helped her cope with the emotional consequences. It hadn't made it hurt less it had just reminded her that it was worth it. That it had to be worth it.

The door eased open and Olivia glanced over her shoulder to find her mother peering in. Olivia held a finger up to her lips and then stood up and walked into the hall.

"I fixed you a plate if you're hungry," Eleanor said.

"That was sweet of you," Olivia said. "But I have a few things that I need to take care of at home."

Her mother gave her a look that she had no trouble interpreting. Just because Eleanor didn't pry didn't mean that she didn't worry. Olivia appreciated her restraint.

"Soon," Olivia said quietly. "I promise that I'll tell you everything. In the meantime, don't worry. For the first time in a really long time, I feel good about what's coming next."

"I'm glad to hear that," Eleanor said as they walked downstairs. "You deserve to be happy."

"I'm working on it," Olivia said. "You guys have fun and call me if you need anything."

"Olivia, can I speak to you for a minute?" Alvin asked, sticking his head out of his office.

"Sure, Dad," Olivia said.

She exchanged a look with her mother before moving across the room.

"What's up?" she asked.

"I ran into someone earlier," Alvin said. "Darren Davis."

Olivia's eyes widened slightly at the mention of Edison's father.

"He was perfectly civil but he did warn me that his wife is on a war path," Alvin said. "Apparently Edison didn't mention the divorce to them until just the other day."

Olivia bit her lip. This was a complication that she should have anticipated but she'd been so focused on the doors that the end of her marriage would open up and she'd been so relieved that Edison wasn't making a production of the whole thing that she hadn't stopped to think about his family. She'd always had a decent relationship with her father in law but Edison's mother was another story. She'd never forgiven Olivia for breaking things off the first time and she'd made no secret of the fact that she didn't buy into Olivia's "change of heart".

Olivia couldn't blame her for that since there hadn't actually _been_ a change of heart but it could make things complicated now. However she felt about Olivia, Marilyn Davis had doted on Carly. Olivia didn't know what Edison had or hadn't told her about Carly's paternity or what suspicions Marilyn might have had on her own. What she did know was that the older woman wasn't going to be nearly as content as her son to simply disappear from Carly's life.

Olivia took a minute to process and then decided that she would cross that bridge when she got to it. Right now, all she wanted to focus on was flying to California tomorrow afternoon and spending time with Fitz without any pressure on them. She'd earned that. They'd earned it.

"Thanks for the heads up," Olivia said to her father.

Alvin gave her a once over, not too different from the one her mother had given her a few minutes ago. He seemed satisfied because all he did was nod and give her a kiss on the cheek.

"Take care of yourself," he said. "Better care than you've been taking."

"I promise I will," Olivia said.

After giving her mother a hug, Olivia left the house and climbed into her car. She headed for the office and wasn't entirely surprised to find Harrison there when she arrived.

"I was going to leave these files for you," she said handing him a series of folders. "Some leads for you to follow."

Harrison glanced at the contents.

"Do I want to know how you got this information?" he asked.

"Probably not," Olivia said with a small smile. "Have you heard from Huck?"

"Not in the last 12 hours," Harrison said. "That's probably a good thing."

"Probably," Olivia agreed.

"You going to tell me where you're going tomorrow?" Harrison asked.

"Do I need to?" Olivia asked.

"Not if you don't want to," Harrison said.

"I'm doing something that I've needed to do for a long time," Olivia said. "I'm taking my life back. Or trying to."

"It's about time," Harrison said.

He winked at her and reached for his jacket.

"I'll only call in case of emergency," he said "Scout's honor."

Olivia shook her head at him and went into her office. She heard the front door shut behind Harrison but she didn't look back. She went straight for the bottom desk drawer and slid it open. Lifting the fake panel, she picked up the rectangular wooden box that she kept there. Easing the lid open, she looked at the pictures and other souvenirs she'd kept of her relationship with Fitz. She'd kept them here in the office because unlike Edison, Olivia trusted her Gladiators not to invade her privacy.

She picked up the last picture that she'd put in the box. Cyrus had sent it to her after a BBQ that he and James had invited her and Edison to at their house. They didn't often talk about her relationship with Fitz and never in any overt terms. He hadn't even been the one to tell her when Fitz and Mellie got divorced a year after America's Baby - Nathanial Francis Grant - had died. Olivia had heard about it on the news like everyone else.

But Cyrus was an acute observer of human behavior and of Olivia and of Fitz in particular. He may not have always approved of their relationship but he understood it like few other people in the world. So whatever he'd seen at the BBQ that afternoon had prompted him to send her this photo of Fitz in the Oval. It was obviously taken late at night and Fitz was standing in front of the window, practically pressed against it like a child staring into a candy store or a prisoner looking for any sign of freedom on the horizon.

Cyrus had scrawled one sentence on the back of the photo.

_For whatever it's worth, you're still in this together. _

The first time she read those words, she'd thought that Cyrus was mocking her but then she'd realized that it was his way of telling her that Fitz missed her too, that even though they weren't together - might never be again - they were still the same. She'd never realized it before, had never let herself think about it, but that knowledge had helped her get through every day since, had kept that spark of connection between her and Fitz alive and waiting until it was safe to burst back into life.

Olivia ran her fingers over the image of Fitz's face.

It was safe now.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: I hope this will be worth the wait. You'll note that I've changed the rating. There's a bit of sexual content in here but I didn't think it was graphic enough to warrant an M rating. You can all let me know if you think I misjudged that. And last thing, I don't know if Tom actually has a last name in canon but I read Stanton in one of the fics on here and I think it fits so I went with that. Can't take credit for it though. Enjoy!**

**PS: Props to anyone who finds the True Blood reference hidden in here.**

* * *

"Ms. Pope?"

Olivia's head snapped around at the sound of her name being called and her eyes immediately landed on the familiar figure of Tom Stanton, Fitz's lead Secret Service Agent. Tom had always been Fitz's favorite and he'd become Olivia's as well. It wasn't just because he was loyal, although that had a lot to do with it. It was because he was compassionate. He'd never once treated Olivia with anything less than the utmost respect and he'd always done whatever he could to make the circumstances easier for them.

"Hi Tom," Olivia said.

Tom gave her a small smile.

"This way ma'am," he said, reaching for her bag.

"You can call me Olivia, you know," Olivia said. "I think we've known each other long enough."

"Yes ma'am, we have," Tom said, his smile stretching a little bit wider.

Olivia laughed but she didn't insist. She felt almost giddy and much too excited to take much of anything seriously. All that mattered to her was that in roughly three quarters of an hour, she'd be with Fitz. She slipped her sunglasses on as they made their way outside and her eyes widened behind them when Tom indicated a limo at the curb. Another Secret Service agent opened the back door as she approached.

"Leave it to Fitz," Olivia said under her breath, shaking her head. It wasn't enough that he'd sent agents to pick her up from the airport; he'd gone all out with the limo. She should be grateful that he hadn't decided to drive himself. She could just imagine the spectacle they would have caused if he had.

"Leave what to me?"

Olivia froze half way into the car when she realized that Fitz himself was inside.

"You…" Olivia started. Her mouth opened and closed but nothing else came out. Fitz reached for her hand and pulled her all the way inside and right into his lap. He reached for her sunglasses, slid them off and tossed them on the opposite seat.

"You didn't really think," he said softly, "that I was going to wait a minute longer than I had to, to see you again. Did you?"

The pragmatic part of her brain, which was never entirely silent, knew that he'd taken a risk and that in all honesty, she should probably reprimand him for it. The fact that they were free to be together didn't mean that they didn't still have to be careful. But Olivia didn't have the energy or the willpower for that. Not when his fingers were trailing across her cheek and ghosting over her lips. Not when his blue grey eyes were drinking her in and getting darker by the second. Not when all she wanted was to melt into him and onto him and not come up for air.

So she didn't answer his question. Instead, she nipped his the pad of his index finger with her teeth and reached up to tangle her fingers in the fine silk of those irrepressible curls and bring his mouth down to hers. When their lips touched, she would have sworn on all that was holy that the universe itself shifted and realigned.

At first, they were tentative, almost shy; all too aware that this kiss wasn't like any other they'd ever shared. But then the familiarity of how they felt and tasted to each other sank into their blood and unleashed the hunger that had been gnawing at both of their souls. Unlike the kiss a month ago though, there was no desperation, no driving need to hold on to something that felt like it was slipping away.

This kiss, with all of the passion and unspoken promises they poured into it, was their anchor into a new reality. Fitz's tongue surged into her mouth and Olivia surrendered, holding nothing back. Tightening his grip on her, Fitz shifted them so Olivia was lying flat on her back, with her legs stretched over his. Bracing himself over her, he pulled back just enough to be able to whisper into her mouth.

"I'm yours."

Olivia resisted the urge to close her eyes and savor those two words. Instead of shutting him out, she let him in, let herself be vulnerable and let him see exactly what it meant to her to finally hear those words; words that he'd never said to her before.

He'd implied it, of course and he'd told her that he loved her countless times. And there was that night in the Rose Garden when he'd shouted at her that he belonged to her, that he existed for her, that his every feeling was controlled by the look on her face. He'd let her feel the full force of his love for her that night and it had been enough to convince her that they were in it together. But it hadn't been enough to make her forget that he couldn't _really_ give himself to her because there were vows made to another woman in another time in another place standing in their way.

No more.

Sitting up, Olivia reached for his hand, which had settled at her waist and pressed it to her heart. Her fingers wrapped around his and their eyes locked. Nothing else needed to be said and they stayed there like that, in silence for several long minutes.

Fitz's lips found hers again, the gentle brush of one mouth over the other.

"Hi," he said.

A tremulous smile stretched across Olivia's face and Fitz could see the happiness shining in her eyes. It made him feel like he was on top of the world in a way few things ever head.

"Hi," she said.

"You know," Fitz said, leaning his forehead against hers. "I always thought that if this moment came, I'd have a million things to say to you."

"It's been six years," Olivia said, understanding what he meant.

"But now that we're here," Fitz continued.

"It feels like words couldn't possibly be enough," Olivia finished.

Fitz nodded and Olivia tucked her head against his shoulder. They stayed wrapped together like that for the rest of the drive to the ranch and it felt like _one minute_ was finally _the rest of forever._

"I have a surprise for you," Fitz said as the limo rolled to a stop.

"Funny how that works," Olivia said. "I have a couple for you too."

Tom swung the door open and Fitz helped Olivia out. As she straightened, she realized they weren't up at the main house.

"There didn't used to be a house here," Olivia said, looking around. She was pretty sure they were somewhere on the back end of the property, which had been all trees and pasture the last time she'd been here.

"No, there didn't used to be," Fitz agreed.

He held his hand out to her and Olivia gave him a curious look as she placed her hand in his and let him guide her up the path to the front door. She had the distinct feeling that she was missing something and her mind was racing a mile a minute to figure out what it was.

As soon as she stepped into the front foyer and saw the Cezanne hanging on the wall though, she knew, and she stumbled. Fitz was right there to catch her, his arms sliding around her and cradling her close.

"Fitz," Olivia breathed, her eyes darting every which way around her, trying to take it all in. She couldn't believe that he'd done this, that he'd remembered so many of the details.

"I played that night over and over in my mind for years," Fitz said, his chin resting in the curve between her neck and shoulder. "Then three years ago - August 12th in fact - I decided it didn't matter what did or didn't happen. I wanted this place to be real."

Olivia shook her head, her hands clutching at his, and her heart so full she legitimately thought it might burst. The date he mentioned wasn't lost on her. It was the anniversary of their first time together.

"Show me the rest," Olivia said.

Fitz grinned at her and in that moment Olivia realized just how far they'd come, just how strong - how unbreakable - the love they shared actually was. He had built this house for her, not knowing if she'd ever set foot in it. He'd remembered things that she'd told him not just that night in Austin but in a million other random, insignificant moments. Throwaway comments about what kind of coffee machine she liked, the types of fabrics that reminded her of her childhood, the colors she loved best, her favorite artists. Even the library proved to be stocked with the works of all her favorite authors and philosophers and biographies of the historical figures she admired the most.

He hadn't just built a house, Olivia thought to herself, he'd built a declaration of love beyond anything she could have ever imagined.

"I don't even know what to say," Olivia said as they stepped into the master bedroom with its high ceilings, honey colored hardwood floors and massive wrought iron bed.

Fitz placed his hands on her hips.

"Say that we can call this home," he murmured. " That we have the rest of our lives fill this place up with love and laughter and _good times."_

Olivia turned around to face him, raised her hands to frame his face.

"I didn't think I could love you any more than I already did," Olivia said. "But this, all of this, it feels like falling in love all over again and it feels..."

"Good?" Fitz supplied.

"_Perfect," _Olivia said.

* * *

"That was delicious," Fitz said, reaching across the table to pick up Liv's hand and rub his thumb across her knuckles.

She smiled and took a sip of her red wine and Fitz couldn't take his eyes off her.

"You're staring," Olivia said.

"Can you blame me?" Fitz said. "You're the most beautiful person I know."

He stood up and pulled Olivia to her feet.

"Come on," he said, moving towards the hallway.

"The dishes," Olivia started.

"Can wait," Fitz sad.

"Where are we going?" Olivia asked, quirking an eyebrow.

Fitz turned to look back at her.

"We could go for a walk by the lake," he said. "Or..."

"Or?" Olivia repeated.

"We could go upstairs," Fitz said huskily.

Olivia swallowed hard. She'd been wondering when this moment would come. There was a part of her that had expected it sooner, that had wondered whether or not they'd fall into each other's arms and into bed the minute they were truly alone. It hadn't happened like that and in a way, Olivia was oddly grateful. Not because she was reluctant or nervous about making love with him but because the time they'd spent together this afternoon, was the time they'd always been denied. They'd talked for hours, curled up in the living room and listened to music. Olivia had picked herbs fresh from the garden and Fitz had made it his mission to help and distract her in equal measure as she made dinner. It was _normal _and they'd needed it.

Now though, it was past time.

"Let's go upstairs," Olivia said.

She linked her fingers through his and slipped ahead of him to lead the way. She paused at the threshold of their bedroom - _their bedroom_ - and Fitz took advantage to trail kisses up the side of her neck and then suck her earlobe into his mouth. Olivia shivered and his arms tightened around her in response.

"This is the beginning," Olivia murmured.

"It is," Fitz agreed, reaching for the button at the top of her slacks.

Olivia stayed his hand and turned around to press a brief kiss to his lips.

"Wait here," she said, before scooping up a bag and disappearing into the en suite.

Fitz crossed the room, pulling his shirt off over his head and letting it fall to the floor. He sat down in one of the overstuffed chairs and realized that his hands were shaking. Just a little bit, but still shaking. He huffed out a breath. When it came to Olivia, to making love to her, he'd always felt like this; on the edge of losing complete control. Idly, he wondered if that was why he'd tended to be so dominant, aggressive even, holding so tight and pushing so hard. She was the thing that drove him crazy but kept him sane all at the same time. He'd realized it their first night together because even though he'd been crossing a line that he'd sworn he'd never cross, he'd never felt more certain or more at peace.

The bathroom door opened, bringing Fitz back into the present. Lust, heady and hot, ripped through him when Olivia emerged into view. It was like his brain short-circuited and he couldn't think. All he saw was Olivia - his _Livvy_ - with her curls falling around her shoulders and her body clad in something lacy and red that had clearly been designed with the sole intent of making him lose his mind. He started to get up and go to her but Olivia shook her head.

"Let me," she said.

She walked across the room, her eyes never leaving his, until she was standing between his legs, her hands braced on his bare shoulders. She climbed into his lap, straddling him and his hands immediately went to the silky smooth skin of her thighs, relishing the feel of her flesh under his fingertips. Instinctively, Fitz held still as Olivia trailed her fingers over his face and then started brushing butterfly kisses over his forehead, his nose, and his cheeks. Then her mouth was hovering over his and Fitz felt as if she was breathing life back into him. But he didn't close the gap between them and Olivia gave him a soft smile when she realized that he was holding back, giving up the control he'd almost always clung to.

And then she devoured him, kissing him as if her survival depended on it, as if there couldn't possibly be any such thing as enough of his lips under her lips, her tongue curled around his tongue, his hands smoothing up her sides until they were cupping the swells of her breasts and molding the tender mounds to fit his palms. Olivia felt her nipples tighten and pressed them more firmly into Fitz's hair roughened chest.

Her hips moved restlessly against him and she could feel the very tangible evidence of how much he wanted her. That quickly, all thought of taking it slow fled her mind. Wrapping her arms tightly around his neck, she flattened her tongue against his throat, licking and nibbling her way back up to his mouth.

"I need you inside of me," Olivia sighed. "I need to feel you."

Getting to his feet, Fitz carried Olivia over to the bed. Her legs were locked around his hips so even as he was laying her down, he was stretching out on top of her. Fumbling with clasps and hooks, he bared her body to his eyes and his hands and his lips. He kissed his way across her collarbone, over the slopes of her breasts, down her rib cage and then he came up short at the scar on her stomach. He looked up at her, wordlessly asking the question.

"I had preeclampsia," Olivia said. "They had to do a C-section."

Fitz closed his eyes tightly, fighting the thought that he could have lost her or Carly. As if she knew where his mind was going, Olivia threaded the fingers of one hand into his hair and rubbed his scalp.

"I'm here," Olivia said. "Be here, with me."

Fitz kissed her scar and then lifted her leg over his shoulder and started kissing his way up the inside of her thigh. Olivia let her head fall back and her back arch as he worked his way towards the moist curls at her center.

His tongue probed her folds, tasting the wetness that was a testament to her desire and a low, keening cry tore itself from the back of her throat. Then Fitz added his fingers into the mix and within minutes Olivia was falling apart, her body wracked with orgasmic spasms. Fitz stayed with her, stroking her through it until the aftershocks started to quiet. He pulled away long enough to divest himself of the rest of his clothes and then he was back, his weight warm and pressing her into the mattress. But it wasn't close enough so Olivia tightened her legs around his waist, her heels digging into his ass and she sank her nails into his back.

"_My sweet, sweet baby_," Fitz groaned as he started to push into her welcoming heat. When he was fully sheathed inside her, he paused and stared down at her. Her lips were swollen and parted and her pupils were so dilated that they practically swallowed the irises whole.

She was so beautiful and the reality of being with her again was finally hitting him. He was home. He caressed her face and kissed her mouth. "Say it," he whispered. "I need you to tell me."

She didn't ask him what he meant because she knew. She always knew and that was why they were _them_.

"I'm yours," Olivia said. "Totally and completely, yours."


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: I want to thank you all for the great reviews that you've been leaving me. I've really enjoyed reading them and I'm glad to see that new people are finding this story and loving it. I've also really enjoyed writing these next couple chapters because on the show, we don't really get to see Liv and Fitz just relax and be together, have fun together. So it's been nice to play with that. I hope you all like it!**

* * *

Olivia woke up sated, sore and alone.

Brows knitting together in a frown as she sat up, she ran her hand over the empty space next to her where Fitz should have been. The sheets weren't completely cool so wherever he'd gone, he hadn't been gone long.

Slipping out of bed, Olivia went to the bathroom and took care of her morning routine, which was a lot shorter now that she was a mother than it had been before. She was just tying the belt on her robe, prepared to go in search of her lover when she heard footsteps and Fitz walked into the room. He was wearing a pair of gray pajama pants and carrying a tray.

"You get that it's not breakfast in bed if you're not _in bed_," Fitz said, with a crooked smile.

"That can be fixed," Olivia said. "Witness, Olivia Pope, fixer extraordinaire in action."

She climbed back onto the bed and sat down cross-legged.

"Ta da!" she said lightly.

Fitz's grin stretched wider and he settled the tray over her lap and then crawled over her to lie down on his side facing her.

"French toast and bacon," Olivia said. "You're a man after my own heart."

"Since the day I laid eyes on you," Fitz agreed, kissing the corner of her mouth. "Good morning."

"Good morning," Olivia said, smiling at him.

She honestly couldn't remember the last time she'd woken up feeling this happy, this light-hearted.

"Look in the side pocket of that bag there," Olivia said, pointing to the foot of the bed with her forkful of French toast. "There's something in there I want you to have."

Fitz gave her a curious look but followed her instructions. He came back to her side with a flat box just as she swallowed her first bite of breakfast.

"Good god, Fitz," Olivia said. "How did I not know that you could cook this spectacularly?"

"I can make French toast this spectacularly," he corrected her. "Not entirely the same thing. Remind me to tell you about my first attempt at lasagna."

"Bad?" Olivia asked, crunching into a piece of bacon.

"We had to redecorate the kitchen to get rid of the smell," Fitz said.

Olivia attempted to smother her giggles but failed miserably. She sobered though, when Fitz opened the box and realized what was inside.

"I know there's nothing that I can ever do to give you that time with her back," Olivia said. "But I tried to capture as much as I could and I would have sent it to you one day eventually but…"

"Shhh," Fitz said, as he flipped open the scrapbook that was as detailed a documentation of Carly's first five years as Olivia had been able to put together. He fingered Carly's baby bracelet and then turned to Olivia. "Thank you."

The look his face told her that he meant it, that he wasn't holding onto any resentment about the choices she'd made or what he'd been deprived of as a result. If she'd needed another reason to love him, his understanding in this moment would have been it.

"So talk me through it," he said, leaning back against a mountain of pillows.

So she did, in between bites of breakfast – some for her and some for him – Olivia told him as many stories as she could think of about Carly's birth and first nights at home, and birthdays and holidays and everyday days.

"The first time we took her to church and she was old enough to sort of understand what it was all about," Olivia said. "Marilyn gave her a dollar to put in the collection plate but Carly had some different ideas. Instead of putting the money in, she figured she'd take a bunch out and toss it like confetti."

Fitz laughed.

"How mortified were you?" he asked.

"Surprisingly not at all," Olivia said. "I was too busy trying not to laugh at the appalled look on Marilyn's face. Not very Christian of me, I know, but that woman…"

She shook her head.

"I should tell you that my dad ran into Edison's dad the other day," Olivia said. "Edison's mother could be a problem."

Fitz set the scrapbook aside and wrapped his arm around Olivia's shoulder, pulling her close. Olivia went willingly, resting her head against his chest.

"We'll handle it when we need to," Fitz said. "If we need to."

He dropped a kiss on the top of her head.

"I was thinking if you wanted we could drive through wine country," Fitz said. "Visit a couple of the wineries."

"That sounds amazing," Olivia said. "Let me just hop in the shower."

She smirked at him as she slid off the bed and let her robe fall to the floor.

"Care to join me, Mr. President?" she teased over her shoulder as she moved towards the bathroom.

Fitz let out a low growl and probably would have tackled her back onto the bed if his cell phone hadn't rung, the specific ringtone announcing that his son was trying to reach him.

"Hold that thought," Fitz called out to Olivia before answering the phone. "What's up Jer?"

"Mom's making me go back to boarding school," Jerry spat.

"What?" Fitz asked. "I thought things were going well in Boston?"

"They are," Jerry said.

"Then do you want to fill in the blanks and tell me what's really going on?" Fitz asked. "What did she say to you? She must have given you a reason?"

"She wasn't talking to me," Jerry mumbled. "But I heard her!"

He sounded defiant in the extreme and Fitz pinched the bridge of his nose. He was going to have to talk to his kids about this habit they had of eavesdropping on conversations that weren't meant for them to hear. And he was going to have to tell Mellie to be more careful about what she said and where. He could imagine that going over _so_ well.

"Your mom has really enjoyed having you at home," Fitz said. "I can't imagine what would make her go back on her word after we agreed that you could spend the school year in Boston."

"I think the president is going to ask her to be Secretary of State," Jerry said bitterly. "That guy came over here the other day."

"What guy?" Fitz asked.

"The president's version of Uncle Cyrus," Jerry said.

Fitz bit back a curse.

"Dad, I don't want to go back to boarding school," Jerry said. "If I can't stay in Boston, can I at least come out to Cali with you?"

"What about D.C.?" Fitz asked. "If this ends up happening that's where your Mom would be. You don't have any interest in going back to your old school?"

"I'd rather be in Cali," Jerry repeated.

Fitz sighed.

As a six year old, Jerry had adapted far more easily to Washington and life in the White House than his sister had. At nine going on nineteen, Karen had been extremely aware of all the people constantly watching her and Mellie hadn't helped in the least, forever reminding Karen to smile or mind her manners or sit up straight.

With time though, Karen had learned to make her peace with life under the microscope and as she made friends, she'd figured out how to live as much on her own terms as was possible. Jerry, on the other hand, had started to have some real problems, both in and out of school and that was what had resulted in the decision to send him to boarding school. Karen had decided to go as well because she didn't want Gerry to feel like he was being abandoned.

It wasn't really what Fitz had wanted at the time but things had been way too complicated for him to fight it out with Mellie and while he'd missed having the kids at home, part of him was glad that they were away from the Washington spotlight. It hadn't been the easiest time for him politically or personally and it was probably for the best that they'd been spared.

"I'll talk to your mother," Fitz said. "See what we can come up with. Whatever we decide, I promise you won't have to go back to boarding school if you don't want to. We'll work it out."

"Thanks, Dad," Jerry said.

"Of course, buddy," Fitz said. "I'll call you after I talk to her, okay?"

"Yeah, okay," Jerry said. "I'm spending the night at Daniel's so call my cell phone."

"Sure," Fitz said. "Bye."

He hung up the phone and got to his feet. Padding into the bathroom, he found Olivia sitting on the counter, with a towel wrapped around herself.

"Everything okay?" she asked.

"Paul Morton went to see Mellie," Fitz said.

"Why would…" Olivia began.

Her eyes widened a fraction.

"Sally wouldn't…"

"Of course she would," Fitz said. "And of course Mellie _will_, and never mind the effect it's going to have on Jerry. He overheard her talking about sending him back to boarding school."

Olivia winced.

"What are you going to do?" she asked.

Fitz reached for her.

"First," he said. "I'm going to share a shower with the most beautiful woman in the known universe."

He kissed the spot just underneath her ear and Olivia let her head fall back.

"And then," he said. "I'm going to pick up the phone and try to make a deal with the devil."

* * *

"Millicent."

"Fitzgerald," Mellie said.

"Our son informs me that you're making plans to send him back to boarding school," Fitz said. "I know he must be mistaken because we very clearly agreed in August that he could spend the school year in Boston. You were very convincing – at least so far as Jerry is concerned – about how much you wanted him at home so the two of you could spend more time together."

"Things have changed," Mellie said. "It's not going to be practical and…"

"Cut the bullshit, Mellie," Fitz said. "You forget this is me you're talking to. I know what Sally is offering you and I know there isn't a maternal instinct in the world strong enough to get you to refuse."

"Then what do you want?" Mellie snapped.

"Jerry isn't going back to Andover," Fitz said. "If I have to come to Boston or if he has to move out to California; whatever we decide, you're going to agree to it without protest."

"Or else?" Mellie bit out.

"Or else I won't think twice about torpedoing your political ambitions," Fitz said. "And you know I can so _don't test me._"

"Don't threaten me, Fitz," Mellie said. "Or have you forgotten that I know where your bodies are buried?"

"Really?" Fitz said. "We're talking about what's best for Jerry and _that's_ what you want to go with?"

"Jerry is 14," Mellie said. "He's not a child anymore. He's old enough to understand and to make sacrifices."

Fitz's jaw clenched. He knew it would pointless to remind Mellie of the price that Jerry and Karen had already paid when he was president. She wouldn't care. She was entirely blinded by her own lust for power.

"You know what, Mellie," Fitz said. "I will take care of _my_ son. All you have to do is not get in my way. Do you think you can manage that?"

"So long as you don't get in mine," Mellie said. "If that's all, I have a confirmation to get ready for."

Fitz didn't bother to answer. He simply hung up.

"She _infuriates _me," Fitz said. "And the most infuriating thing about it is that I let her."

Olivia stood behind Fitz's chair and placed a tall glass of lemonade in front of him. She wrapped her arms around him and rested her chin on his shoulder, her lips level with his ear.

"The only reason you let her infuriate you is because you care about your kids," Olivia said. "They still need their mother and for better or worse, that's Mellie."

"Mostly worse," Fitz said.

Olivia kissed his temple.

"We should talk," she said.

Fitz made a face.

"We have plenty of time to talk," he said.

"We might as well get it over with," Olivia said.

"Or," Fitz said, taking her hand and pulling her around to sit in his lap. "We can take that drive up north that we talked about, drink some wine, have a picnic. Make love hidden away in a vineyard."

Olivia shook her head at him.

"What about me says that I'd be even remotely charmed by the idea of having sex in the dirt?" she asked him.

Fitz laughed.

"Vineyards aren't just dirt," he said.

"Fine," Olivia said. "Dirt and grapes, then."

"I bet I could convince you," Fitz said.

He held her head in both his hands and planted an extremely thorough kiss on her mouth, teasing her with his warm, velvet tongue until she opened for him. Moaning softly, Olivia leaned into him, her hands settling on either side of his neck so he couldn't pull away before she was ready to let him. And considering that she'd been missing this every day for the last six years, it was a while before she was ready.

"I'm still not having sex with you outside on someone else's property," Olivia said, when they broke apart.

"Does that mean you'll have sex with me outside on _my _property?" Fitz wanted to know.

"Where are the car keys?" Olivia asked, getting to her feet. "We can drive and talk."

"What makes you think I'm letting you drive?" Fitz chuckled.

"Because you want vineyard sex," Olivia retorted.

"You don't even know where we're going," Fitz said.

"That's why God invented GPS," Olivia said.

"The Navy invented GPS," Fitz corrected.

Olivia rolled her eyes.

"Now you're just being rude," she said. "To your girlfriend, too."

"Girlfriend, huh?" Fitz said.

He walked over to her and stole another kiss.

"For that, you get to drive," he said.

Olivia smirked and held out her hand for the car keys. Ten minutes later they were on the road with Secret Service agents in a car ahead of them and more in a car behind them.

"So," Olivia said.

Fitz gave an exaggerated sigh that reminded Olivia so much of Carly that she had to bite her lip in order not to burst out laughing.

"You first," Fitz said.

Olivia took a deep breath.

"I can't move to California," she said.

"You can't move to California right now?" Fitz asked. "Or ever?"

"Right now is accurate," Olivia said. "Ever is up for debate."

"Devil's advocate?" Fitz asked.

"Sure," Olivia said.

"What's keeping you in Washington?" he asked.

Olivia gave it some thought before she answered.

"My firm is there, my parents are close," Olivia said. "But mostly it's the only home that Carly knows. I'm not set on staying forever but I'm not ready to throw any more major upheavals into her life right now."

She glanced at Fitz out of the corner of her eye.

"A month might feel like forever to us but it's not that long," Olivia said. "And don't get me wrong, part of me is extremely relieved that she seems to be adjusting to things so easily but another part of me is scared to death that it's _too_ easy."

"That's something you need to work on," Fitz said. "You tend to see trouble where there is none. I'm assuming that's an occupational hazard but you have to work on leaving it at the office."

"Easier said than done," Olivia said.

"Most things are," Fitz said.

He reached over to give her knee a squeeze, then slid his hand up her thigh and left it there.

"So let's work with the assumption that you and Carly are staying in DC for the foreseeable future," Fitz said.

"What about Jerry?" Olivia asked.

"The school year ends in a few months," Fitz said. "The ideal situation would be to keep him in Boston until then. With Mellie heading back to Washington that means me going to Boston."

"We'd be on the same coast," Olivia said. "Boston – DC isn't the worst commute in the world."

"The question is what happens when school's out," Fitz said. "Unless I decide to take Harvard up on their offer to teach, I don't see a whole lot of reasons to stay in Boston beyond the summer."

"Where would you go?" Olivia asked.

"If it were only up to me," Fitz said. "I'd be in Washington with you. But Jerry's got some unresolved issues with our nation's capital and I'm not sure he'd re-adjust particularly well."

"Honest answer?" Olivia asked.

"Of course," Fitz said.

"Do you _actually_ want to be back in D.C. or do you just want to be close to me?" Olivia asked.

"Put it this way," Fitz said. "If you weren't there, I'd find somewhere else to go."

"I figured as much," Olivia said wryly. "So why don't we try starting with where you _do_ want to be and what you want to be doing."

"Just to be clear," Fitz said. "Whatever I decide, I'm not taking anything on until the end of the summer. I want to make sure that we have time for us and for Karen and Jerry to get their heads around everything. Carly too if it comes to that."

"We can reassess at the end of summer," Olivia agreed. "But in the meantime and all things being equal…"

"All things being equal," Fitz said slowly. "I think New York."

Olivia took her eyes off the road to look at him for a few seconds.

"You thinking about taking Ban Ki Moon up on his offer?" she asked.

"I am," Fitz said. "I was thinking about an international security platform."

"But now you're worried about crossing swords with Mellie," Olivia guessed.

"I've spent too much of my life arguing with her," Fitz said. "I'm over it."

Olivia considered that.

"I think the U.N. is a good fit for you," she finally said. "And I think that it's the best way for you to help keep the Langston administration honest when it comes to foreign policy. There are platforms you can stand on that keep you relevant to international security issues without putting you directly in Mellie's crosshairs."

"Like?" Fitz asked.

"Like refugees," Olivia said. "Like violence against women and girls in conflict zones, like the ICJ's legal framework for prosecuting war crimes."

Fitz nodded.

"So I can make New York work," he said. "What about you?"

"I like New York," Olivia said. "It won't be hard to find a good school for Carly. I can leave Harrison in charge in D.C. and open an office in the city."

She grinned at him.

"I can make New York work," she said. "_We_ can make New York work."


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Thank you all for your wonderful, funny and insightful reviews. They are a joy to read. The rating on this story is definitively going up to M. Turns out these two are kind of insatiable when it comes to each other. Enjoy!**

**And by the way, if anyone has NOT seen the sneak peek for tomorrow's episode, stop what you're doing, and go watch it because damn. Just damn. **

* * *

"I can't believe I let you talk me into this," Olivia gasped, her head falling back against the tree that Fitz had her pinned to. She could feel him smile against her neck but he didn't actually answer her. He had one hand cupping her bottom and the other was sliding underneath her top to smooth over her stomach and up her chest, while he sucked on the hollow at the base of her throat.

Olivia turned her head, seeking and capturing his mouth. Heat licked at her lips and slid through her blood as they kissed, hard and frantic. They'd made love into the wee hours of the morning but it didn't seem to have put so much as a dent in how much they wanted each other. Reaching down, Olivia got his pants unzipped and slipped her hand inside. He was hard and hot and thick in her palm and the harsh groan that escaped his throat when she stroked him caused a fresh wave of moisture to pool between her legs. She shifted her weight from one side to the other, trying to ease the ache.

Fitz seemed to sense her frustration because he tugged her jeans down to her knees and ripped her panties right off. Whatever part of her brain that had reservations about what they were doing and _where_ they were doing it was quickly drowned out by the feel of Fitz plunging two of his long, tapered fingers inside her. Olivia started to scream but Fitz kissed her quiet and then gave her his thumb to bite while his other hand continued to pleasure her.

His eyes were locked on hers the whole time but Olivia could barely keep him in focus with the sensations that were flooding her body and drugging her senses. She arched into him, needing more and Fitz obliged her, his thumb rubbing circles against her clit. Instinctively, Olivia's hand squeezed just a little tighter around his shaft and it seemed to break the last of his control.

The next thing Olivia knew, Fitz was licking his fingers clean of her arousal, grunting something about never getting tired of the way she tasted and spinning her around so that her back was to him and his erection was pressing into her ass. He held both of her hands in one of his, over her head and used his other hand to brace her hip. Even so, the force of his entry nearly lifted her completely off her feet.

"_Fitz_," she hissed.

"I'm right here, sweet baby," he breathed into her ear. "I'm right here."

He banded his arm across her belly as he pulled back a little and then slammed back into her, harder and deeper than before. Olivia pushed back against him, letting her head hang forward and not even trying to silence the moans that were spilling past her lips. She could feel her body scaling the heights of ecstasy one after the other in rapid succession and she knew it wasn't going to be long before a powerful climax broke over her. Fitz knew her body well enough to know it too but he didn't speed up his pace. If anything he slowed it, each thrust more deliberate and agonizingly delicious than the one before.

His breath was hot and labored against the side of her face and she felt his teeth scrape against her earlobe.

"So close," Olivia panted.

Fitz bit the top of her shoulder and the sharp sting was all it took to send her spiraling into orgasm. The intensity of it was so overwhelming that she was only vaguely aware of Fitz following her over the edge, shuddering behind her and inside her.

Several minutes passed before either one of them felt steady enough to move. Eventually, with the help of the Handi-Wipes that Olivia always carried in her purse, they got cleaned up and restored some order to their clothes.

Fitz pulled Olivia into his arms and kissed her jaw.

"Admit it," he said. "You're glad I talked you into that."

"Fishing for compliments is extremely unbecoming for a former president," Olivia said archly but she was smiling and that was all the admission Fitz needed.

He sat down on the blanket that they'd spread a few feet away, on one of the hills of the Sunstone winery. He bent his knees, creating the perfect cradle for Olivia to settle into, which she did.

"It really is beautiful up here," she said, leaning into him and reveling in the boneless feeling that had spread through her body. "You sure you don't want to become a gentleman farmer instead?"

"Not entirely sure, no," Fitz said with a grin. "The simple life does hold a certain appeal. I mean you could make great jam in a place like this."

Olivia jabbed him with her elbow.

"Don't mock me, Fitzgerald," she said.

"Wouldn't dream of it," Fitz said, kissing her temple.

He couldn't seem to keep his hands or his lips off of her; whether they had just had sex or were about to have sex or not, didn't seem to matter. He just had to be touching her.

"How's Karen?" Olivia asked. "I just realized we didn't talk about her at all earlier."

"She loves Yale," Fitz said.

Karen had graduated high school a year early so she was in the last semester of her freshman year of college.

"Still hasn't decided what she's going to declare as her major," Fitz went on. "Last I checked she was learning towards a double major in Psychology and Cultural Anthropology."

"Mellie must be going nuts," Olivia said.

"Watching Karen stand up to her and _always_ win is one of the great joys of my life," Fitz said. "It's especially hilarious because that refusal to be influenced by anyone? She gets that from Mellie."

"Mellie just never expected that Karen would use it against her," Olivia concluded.

"Exactly," Fitz said. "It's poetic justice."

"Have you talked to her since she went back east?" Olivia asked.

"A couple of emails," Fitz said. "She asked for space so I'm trying to give it to her."

"Worried?" Olivia questioned quietly.

"Trying not to be," Fitz said. "Karen and Jerry are good kids. Great kids."

"But?" Olivia probed.

"We've asked a lot of them. _I've_ asked a lot of them," Fitz said. "At some point that starts adding up."

Olivia reached up and ran the back of her hand against his cheek.

"Like you said, they're good kids," she said. "And they love their dad."

Fitz gave her a small smile and brushed an errant curl away from her face.

"Speaking of parents," Olivia said. "I promised my mother that I'd tell her everything soon. And I'm thinking I should tell her and my dad at the same time."

"Nervous?" Fitz asked.

"Terrified," Olivia said.

"Tell me why," Fitz said.

"I'm not even sure," Olivia said. "My mom has already made it clear she knew I wasn't with Edison for the right reasons. I don't think anything I say about that marriage is going to surprise her. But us… That's going to come as a shock and not just because you're you. Because of how we started and how it all happened."

"Do you want me to be there?" Fitz asked. "I'm just as responsible as you are for the choices we made. If there's fallout from your parents on that, you shouldn't have to carry it alone."

"I appreciate the offer," Olivia said. "But I think I need to face them by myself. I will, however, give my mother your number if she wants to yell at you after."

"Seems like reasonable recourse," Fitz said.

Olivia's cell phone rang and she glanced at the screen.

"Speak of the devil," she said.

She slid her finger across the touch screen to pick up the call.

"Hi, Mom," she said. "How are things going?"

"Pretty good," Eleanor said. "Carly was a little cranky in the airport but she's been good as gold since we got onto the ship."

"Where is she now?" Olivia asked.

"Bouncing right next to me waiting for me to give her the phone," Eleanor said in amusement. "Hold on."

"Hi Mommy!" Carly said.

"Hey pumpkin," Olivia said. "You having fun yet?"

"Yes," Carly said. "Grandpa took me on the water slides this morning and I went down by myself two times!"

Olivia laughed, more at the idea of her father being cajoled into water slides than anything else. The man was a respected cardiothoracic surgeon albeit retired, and as loving as he'd been to Olivia when she was a child, his personality had remained mostly stoic.

Carly had him wrapped around her little fingers though and it amused Olivia no end to see how he was mellowing out.

"And we're going to a show later," Carly informed her mother.

"What kind of show?" Olivia asked.

"Dunno," Carly said. "One with sparkly lights."

"It's a musical," Eleanor explained in the background. "The Little Mermaid, I believe."

"Are you going to sing along?" Olivia asked Carly. "I'm pretty sure you know the words to that entire movie."

"I don't think I do," Carly protested. "There's lots of words in a whole movie."

"When I – when you get home we can watch it and see how many you know," Olivia said.

"Okay," Carly agreed. "Mommy, whatcha doin'?"

Olivia glanced up at Fitz who was looking equal parts enraptured and entertained by the conversation. Olivia had put it on speakerphone as soon as Carly came on the line.

"I am having a picnic," Olivia said, wanting to stick as close to the truth as possible.

"Where?" Carly asked.

Fitz's lips twitched and he gave her a look that said she was on her own. He got a mock glare from her in response.

"Well, it's a big…field," Olivia said. "It has grass, and grapes and a great view. But not as good as the one you have, I bet. Have you been to the beach yet?"

"No," Carly said. "Grandma says that's tomorrow after the akarium."

"Aquarium, sweetie," Olivia said.

"Yeah," Carly agreed. "With the fishes."

"Take lots of pictures for me," Olivia said.

"Okay," Carly said. "Mommy, we have to go eat now. I'm hungry."

"I wouldn't want to keep you from your food," Olivia laughed. "Love you, pumpkin."

"Love you too," Carly said.

Eleanor came back on the line.

"We'll call you again soon," she said.

"Enjoy yourselves," Olivia said.

"I'd tell you to do the same," Eleanor said. "But something in your voice tells me you already are."

"Mom," Olivia protested.

"I didn't say it was a bad thing," Eleanor said. "I'm glad that you're not letting the divorce hold you back. You have every right to move on with your life, Olivia."

"It means a lot to me that you think so," Olivia said, linking her fingers through Fitz's.

"Alright, let me go before Little Miss decides to have one of her fits," Eleanor said. "And you…if you can't be good, then at least be good at it."

"Mom!" Olivia exclaimed.

Fitz shook behind her, his entire frame vibrating with the laughter he was trying to contain.

"Really, Olivia," Eleanor said. "Considering your line of work, I'd think it would take much more to shock you."

"For other people to shock me," Olivia muttered. "You're my _mother_."

"All the more reason for you to listen to me," Eleanor said mildly. "Bye now."

"Bye," Olivia said.

She hung up the phone and shook her head in disbelief.

"I think I love your mother," Fitz said. "It's going to be really unfortunate if she decides to hate me."

"She won't hate you," Olivia said. "It might take her some time because whatever she thought about me and Edison, she does believe in the institution of marriage. But at the end of the day, she'll love you because I do."

"You're closer to her than your dad, aren't you?" Fitz asked.

"I wouldn't say it like that," Olivia said. "I think they had a very traditional approach when it came to how they raised me. Certain things were Mom's domain and other things were Dad's. It's kind of carried over into my adulthood, I guess."

Olivia leaned her head back to look at him.

"What are you thinking?" she asked.

"That growing up with parents in a happy, stable, relationship must have been nice," Fitz said.

Olivia squeezed his hand.

"Will you tell me about your mother?" she asked.

"One day," Fitz confirmed softly. "But not today."

* * *

"Are you serious?" Fitz asked.

"As a heart attack," Olivia said, taking a bite of her sautéed mushroom appetizer.

"You went into a meeting with Albanian mobsters," Fitz said, keeping his voice low. "With three million dollars _less_ than they were expecting you to have?"

"Yep," Olivia said.

She held her fork up to his mouth.

"You should try this," she said. "It's fantastic."

Fitz shook his head at her even as he took the bite off her fork.

"I don't know if I should be impressed or appalled," Fitz said, once he'd swallowed. "And that is delicious."

"I told you," Olivia said.

"You sure you don't want any of this crab?" Fitz asked her, indicating the Dungeness crab cake on his plate.

Olivia shook her head.

"I had the most insane crab craving in my second trimester," Olivia said. "I haven't been able to stomach it since."

Fitz smiled but the sudden image of Olivia pregnant, subject to pregnancy cravings and hormones, that formed in his mind knocked the breath out of him for a few seconds. In a weird way, missing those moments with Olivia hit him even harder than all of the things that he'd missed with Carly.

"What else did you crave?" he asked her.

_You._

The word sat on the tip of her tongue but Olivia held it back. They were sitting in one of Santa Barbara's most romantic restaurants. The scenery was picturesque, the food was delicious, the wine more so and for all intents and purposes, this was their first date. The last thing she wanted to do was ruin the mood by going to a place that was - by definition - full of regret and recriminations.

"Graham crackers," she finally answered.

"Graham crackers?" Fitz repeated.

"I ate them by the dozens," Olivia said. "I'm pretty sure that's why Carly thinks they're the grossest thing ever to this day."

Fitz chuckled and Olivia felt herself relax. He was back in the moment with her and it was enough.

"Don't think I don't see what you did there," Fitz said lightly. "Trying to distract me so I wouldn't yell at you for being so reckless. Seriously Liv. Albanian _mobsters?"_

"It was years ago," Olivia said. "And besides, I'm much more careful now. Every time I step out the door, I think of what would happen to Carly if something happened to me."

"What _would_ happen to her?" Fitz asked.

Coming from anyone else the question might have been slightly morbid but Olivia knew where he was coming from. Before he'd been inaugurated, he'd forced Mellie to sit down with him and a team of lawyers to work out exactly what would happen to the kids should anything happen to him while he was in office. They'd talked custody arrangements, inheritances, trust funds, the lot.

"Stephen and Abby are her godparents," Olivia said. "I had the paperwork drawn up; it includes a sworn affidavit that Edison isn't Carly's father. If it had come down to it, I wouldn't have wanted my wishes to be contestable."

"Smart," Fitz said.

"We can amend the paperwork though," Olivia said. "Now that things are changing."

"We can do that," Fitz said. "Speaking of paperwork, there's something you should know about the house."

Olivia arched an eyebrow in a silent query.

"I revised my will after we finished construction," Fitz said. "Carly inherits the house and the seven acres that surround it."

"Fitz," Olivia breathed.

"The paperwork would have come to you anyway," he said. "I made sure there were provisions in case you decided that it would have done more harm than good to let her have it. I wasn't trying to force your hand. I just…if you had told her the truth, I wanted her to have something that would let her know that I loved her, that I loved you, that not being a part of her life wasn't something I did for me but something I did for her."

Olivia pushed her chair back and stood up. She rounded the table until she was at Fitz's side, then she bent her head and kissed him, not particularly caring if anyone could see them.

"You keep telling me that I'm amazing and beautiful," she murmured.

"Because it's true," Fitz interjected.

"You are one of the best men that I've ever known," Olivia said. "And I am so glad – _so lucky_ – that I get to have you in my life again."

Fitz took her hand and turned it palm side up. He kissed the inside of her wrist, then the back of her hand, then each one of her fingertips.

"Forever this time," he said.

"It's not long enough," Olivia said. "But I'll take it."


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: I don't know about the rest of you but I am still in recovery mode after last night's episode. Damn, talk about intense. Now, I had been sitting on the fence about whether or not I wanted Defiance to be a factor in this story and after last night's episode, I've decided I don't. It was painful and hard enough to see on screen; I don't want to be writing it out. Besides which, I think we all need a nice little bubble where even though it's not totally smooth sailing for them, at least we're secure in the knowledge that they're totally committed to making it work. Having said that, I think I'll keep the assassination attempt part as canon in my "universe". Not sure if it will specifically come up but consider it part of the backstory.**

**As always, reviews and comments make me super smiley. I look forward to reading them. Enjoy!**

* * *

Fitz leaned in the doorway of Jerry's room in the condo that he'd rented for them at the Ritz Towers in downtown Boston. Jerry was slouched in the chair at his desk and in the corner of the room the television was on. Mellie was giving her first press conference after being confirmed as President Langston's Secretary of State.

If the scowl on Jerry's face was any indication, he wasn't watching out of pride.

"Wanna talk about it?" Fitz asked.

Jerry turned to look at him but he didn't say anything.

"I get the impression," Fitz continued, "that the threat of boarding school isn't the only reason you had a problem with your mother accepting this job."

Jerry pressed his lips together; one more sign of all the emotion he was holding in. Fitz half expected that Jerry would tell him to drop it and he was relieved when the opposite happened.

"She lied," Jerry bit out. "She said that things were going to be different, that we could have a normal life now that you're not president anymore and then she goes and does this?"

Fitz sighed and sat down on the bed, opposite Jerry. He knew he had to choose his words carefully. As much disdain as he felt for Mellie, he was as determined as ever not to say or do anything that would sabotage Jerry's relationship with her. Besides which, Mellie was clearly capable of fucking it up all on her own without his help.

"Your mother is…driven," Fitz said slowly. "And a lot of the things she wanted to do, she couldn't when I was running for president and when I was in office. This was an important opportunity for her."

"I get that," Jerry said. "I even get that she might be able to help a lot of people and that's something you always said was important. But…"

He swiveled back and forth in his chair for a few seconds.

"Do you remember our first week in the White House?" Jerry asked.

"Yeah," Fitz said. "I thought Cyrus was going to have an aneurism when I let you and your friends have a light saber fight in the Oval. Granted, we were finalizing our legislative agenda at the time…"

"You were the president but you never made Karen and me feel like we were in your way," Jerry said. "No matter what was going on, we always felt like we could come to you."

And they had, Fitz recalled. Olivia gotten Cyrus and Louise to tow the line and make sure that if the kids needed him or even if they just wanted to see him, the time would be found. Whether it was after school snacks in the Residence kitchen, help with homework early in the mornings or Skype conversations when he was overseas.

When they'd gone to boarding school, he made sure he spoke to them both at least four or five times during the week even if it was only for a few minutes each time.

"It's not like that with Mom," Jerry said.

"I'm sorry," Fitz said.

"Not your fault," Jerry mumbled.

"Maybe not," Fitz said. "But I'm still sorry. Parents should do everything they can to avoid disappointing their kids and your mom and I have both fallen down on that front."

Jerry frowned.

"What did you do?" he asked.

Fitz hesitated.

He'd been in Boston for the best part of a week now and he was still trying to find the right time to tell Jerry about Olivia and Carly. He'd held off because he'd sensed how upset Jerry was about things with Mellie and he'd been worried about adding fuel to an unstable fire.

But more than the fact that he needed to be honest with his son, he also knew he couldn't keep asking Karen to stay quiet. Asking her to lie to her brother, even if it was a lie of omission, was an awful position to put her in and he wanted to put an end to it as soon as possible.

Now or never, Fitz decided.

"There's something that I need to tell you," Fitz said.

"That sounds serious," Jerry said warily.

"It is serious," Fitz said. "And it goes back to before I was president. You probably don't remember a whole lot about that time because of how young you were."

"Okay," Jerry said, clearly waiting for Fitz to get to the point.

"Your mother and I had problems in our marriage a _long_ time before we got divorced," Fitz said. "We kept up appearances for the sake of the campaign and the beginning of the presidency and for you and your sister but we weren't really happy together."

Fitz studied his son's face, trying to see how Jerry was reacting but he had a hell of a poker face and it was impossible for Fitz to get a sense of what he was thinking.

"I met someone," Fitz admitted. "I fell in love with her. I had a relationship with her."

"You cheated," Jerry said flatly.

"I did," Fitz said. "Like I told your sister, I'm not proud of the fact that I was unfaithful. Whatever the state of things between us at the time, I made vows to your mother and I broke them. That's not okay."

"Karen knows about this?" Jerry demanded.

"She does," Fitz said. "She figured some things out when you were at the ranch a few weeks ago. I asked her to let me talk to you before she said anything so if you need to be mad at someone, be mad at me."

"I haven't decided if I'm mad or not," Jerry said.

"Fair enough," Fitz said. "There's more that you need to hear anyway."

"Fantastic," Jerry said sarcastically.

"The woman I fell in love with is Olivia Pope," Fitz said.

Jerry's eyes flew to his and the poker face was gone. Fitz could read Jerry's shock clear as a bell.

"Is that why she was always so nice to us?" he asked. "Because she was screwing you?"

"Watch it," Fitz said sharply. "I don't _ever_ want to hear you talk about her like that again. Do you understand me?"

"What?" Jerry said defiantly. "The truth a little too rough for you now?"

"You have no idea what the truth of this situation is now or what it was back then," Fitz said, trying to keep his own temper in check.

"It's not rocket science, Dad," Jerry said. "Mom was your wife. Olivia was your mistress. What else is there to understand?"

"Everything," Fitz said. "I don't think you're hearing me when I say that I fell in love with Olivia, that I loved her then and that I still love her."

"What difference does that make?" Jerry said.

"Olivia and I broke things off six years ago," Fitz said. "She got married to someone else."

"That didn't seem to be an issue for you before," Jerry said.

Fitz locked his jaw and tightened the reins on his temper even more. He could understand Jerry being upset and shocked but he wasn't going to take much more lip off the kid and definitely not if he was disrespecting Olivia.

"She's divorced now and we've decided that we still want to be together," Fitz said.

"Whoopee for you," Jerry said. "If you're waiting for my blessing then…"

"I'd settle for an attempt at understanding," Fitz said quietly. "This isn't any easier for me to say to you than it is for you to hear it. And there's still something I haven't told you."

"Dad, I seriously don't know much more I can take," Jerry warned. "If you're about to tell me you're planning to marry Olivia or that you have some secret love child then…"

He shook his head and Fitz stared at him.

"Her name is Carly," Fitz said. "She's five."

"Are you kidding me right now?" Jerry asked. "I wasn't even being serious. I was…"

He ran his fingers through his hair and shot Fitz a look that reflected all of his turmoil. Fitz's anger drained out of his body at his son's obvious distress.

"I know it's a lot," Fitz said. "And I understand if you want to be pissed off at me. I even understand if you have issues with Olivia, although I hope you'll be willing to work through them. But whatever you feel about us, don't put it on Carly. That's genuinely the only thing I can ask of you."

"And Karen knows all this?" Jerry said.

"Yes," Fitz said.

"I'm going to call her," Jerry said. "Do you mind?"

He glanced pointedly at the door.

Fitz stood up to leave but paused in the doorway.

"Jerry, for whatever it's worth," Fitz said. "I truly never meant for this to hurt you or your sister. I hope you believe that."

Jerry gave a small shrug.

"It doesn't matter what you meant though," he said. "It matters what you did."

Fitz nodded slowly.

"I'll be in my office downstairs if you need me," he said.

Jerry's only answer was to spin his chair away and reach for the phone on his desk. Fitz held back a sigh and went downstairs wondering if he'd got one child back, only to lose the other two.

* * *

"You sound stressed," Olivia said about two seconds into their phone call.

"I told Jerry," Fitz said.

"I take it the news didn't go over well," Olivia said.

"He's shocked and upset and angry," Fitz said. "Probably a lot more besides. Not to mention his issues with Mellie. It was a tough conversation. But at least he knows. He called Karen so maybe the two of them can work it out together."

"They've always been close," Olivia said. "It certainly won't hurt that they can lean on each other."

She waited a half beat.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Honestly," Fitz said. "I'm not sure. I've been in Jerry's shoes. I know what it's like to be that age and be disiullioned with your father, to lose respect for him. I know what that does to you."

"Fitz, you are _not_ your father," Olivia said firmly. "The fact that you're even conscious of these things, that your worried about the effect everything is having on Jerry; that alone sets you apart from your father."

"Does it?" Fitz asked sardonically.

"Yes," Olivia said. "Baby, don't torture yourself. You are a great father; Karen and Jerry couldn't have asked for anything better. They're reeling now but the dust will settle eventually and you'll be there for them when it does."

Fitz didn't answer and Olivia felt concern knotting itself together in the pit of her stomach. Fitz was used to being Superman as far as his kids were concerned. He was used to Karen and Jerry thinking that he'd hung the moon. The current circumstances were as much as strain on him as on the kids.

"What can I do?" Olivia asked.

"Nothing," Fitz said. "There's nothing to do except wait it out."

"Fitz," Olivia began.

"Tell me about your day," Fitz interrupted. "Distract me."

Olivia sighed but she obliged him. She told him about how they'd wrapped up the case of an undercover DEA agent who'd discovered that a number of his superiors were in bed with major cartels in Mexico and Columbia. He'd had a price on his head and numerous hit men after him.

"What happens to him now?" Fitz asked.

"Miraculously, his cover wasn't blown," Olivia said. "So he goes back in. I'll probably never see him again."

"Another win for the lady in the white hat," Fitz said.

"I'm coming up," Olivia decided. "Carly's best friend Sawyer is having her birthday sleepover tonight. I'm dropping Carly over there in two hours. I'll take the first Acela out of Union Station after that."

"You don't have to do that," Fitz said. "In fact it's probably better if you don't. I need to be here with Jerry even if it's just so he can ignore me."

"I just don't want you to feel like you have to handle this alone," Olivia said.

"I don't," Fitz assured her. "Look, we're both bringing baggage to this relationship. The fact that this is between Jerry and me right now doesn't mean that I don't feel you supporting me, the same way that I'd support you if the roles were reversed. We're in this together. That's never going to change."

"Movie night?" Olivia offered.

"Sure," Fitz said. "What are you in the mood for?"

"Hitchcock?" Olivia said.

"Works for me," Fitz said.

"You have to make popcorn," Olivia warned him. "I'm not pigging out alone."

"It's a date," Fitz said.

"I'm going to go get Carly ready to go," Olivia said. "Call you when I get home."

"Bye, sweet baby," Fitz said.

Olivia hung up and stared at the phone for a second before putting it back in its cradle. He sounded better now than he had at the beginning of their conversation but she was still worried. She couldn't dwell on it right now though. Switching into mommy-mode, Olivia went up to Carly's bedroom and found her daughter surrounded by toys.

"You are _not_ taking all of that with you to Sawyer's house," Olivia said.

"But _Mommy,_" Carly protested.

"No way," Olivia said. "You can take two toys with you and that's it. There's going to be plenty of stuff for you to play with at Sawyer's house."

Carly pouted but she didn't argue. Olivia had noticed that lately, Carly was picking and choosing her arguments more carefully and as a result, she was actually getting her way more often. Twenty minutes later, they'd gotten Carly's overnight bag packed and ready but they still had time before they needed to leave.

They spent it cuddled up in Carly's bed reading through some of her favorite books, with Carly doing most of the actual reading.

"You're getting really good at this, pumpkin," Olivia said, kissing Carly on the nose. Carly scrunched up her face but Olivia knew she was pleased with the praise.

"Mommy?" Carly asked.

"Yeah, baby?"

"Am I going to have to go live with Daddy sometimes?" Carly wanted to know.

Olivia sat straight up and looked down at Carly, meeting her daughter's eyes head on.

"No," she said. "Why would you think that?"

"Kelly's parents got divorced too and she has to live sometimes with her mommy and sometimes with her daddy," Carly explained.

"When parents get divorced," Olivia said. "Sometimes they agree to share custody. That means that the kid spends equal time with both parents. With your… with our family it's different because we agreed that the best thing for you was to stay with me."

She stroked Carly's hair away from her face.

"I know it's a little bit confusing," she said.

She bit her bottom lip for a brief instant.

"Carly, do you _want_ to see your dad?" Olivia asked, forcing the words out. It had been hard enough referring to Edison as Carly's father when she was completely committed to the pretense they'd been living. Every time she'd heard Carly call Edison "Daddy" she'd been reminded of the weight of the decision she'd made.

Now that the sham was over and she and Fitz were together and working towards the day they could tell Carly the truth, the words stuck in her throat and made her feel a little sick. But the question needed to be asked.

Carly shrugged and turned away from Olivia to reach for another book. The non –answer was typical of Carly's reactions whenever Edison was mentioned.

"It's okay if you do," Olivia said carefully. "Just like it's okay if you don't. You can be honest with me, okay?"

Carly flipped the pages of her Little Prince pop up book.

"Sometimes I wish I had a different daddy," Carly admitted, not looking up.

Olivia was grateful that her daughter's eyes were averted so she couldn't see the stricken expression that Olivia felt certain she was wearing.

"More like Sawyer's daddy," Carly continued. "He made her a tree house and he picks shells with her when they go to the beach."

Carly finally looked up at Olivia and her delicate little eyebrows were creased together in a frown.

"I don't think my daddy likes me very much," she whispered.

_Dear God, what did I do?_ The thought screamed inside Olivia's mind and in mere seconds she was second guessing every decision she'd made since the fateful morning that she'd peed on a stick and realized that she was carrying Fitz's baby.

She'd been so focused on protecting Carly from the fall out if the truth of her paternity was discovered, so convinced that being able to give her baby a legitimate name would make all the difference, would ensure that she grew up safe and happy and secure, that she hadn't completely considered the flip side of the equation.

Part of her wanted to pick Carly up now and tell her that her _daddy_ loved her more than she could possibly imagine. But she knew the emphasis and the truth behind it would be lost and only serve to confuse Carly.

And if she was being honest, she knew that Edison did care about Carly, in his own way. The first couple of years of their marriage, he'd been a rock star, waking up with her in the middle of the night if Olivia asked him to, rearranging his schedule to make doctor's visits, basically being the perfect image of doting fatherhood.

The distance had come later, Olivia realized, when Carly had started walking and talking and stamping her personality on everything and everyone around her. It was like Stephen had said; so easy to see Fitz in her if you were looking.

Pulling Carly into her lap, Olivia held her tight.

"He likes you a lot," Olivia said. "But he's not the best at showing what he feels. And sometimes grown ups make decisions or do things for reasons that have nothing to do with how they feel."

"Why?" Carly asked.

"That's a good question, baby," Olivia said resting her chin on top of Carly's head. "I wish I had a good answer."


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: As always, your reviews are a joy to read so keep those coming :-) And a quick side note, someone mentioned that they had a hard time finding this story after the last chapter. That's probably because I changed the rating to M and FF does weird things with M rated stories and filters. As for this chapter, bit of a rough start but hopefully some long awaited cuteness at the end will make up for it. Enjoy!**

* * *

"Whatever it is can't be that bad, can it?" Eleanor asked.

She was sitting next to her husband on the sofa and Olivia was pacing in front of them. Glancing over at her mother, Olivia tried to calm the nerves that were twisting her stomach. She'd decided last night somewhere between her conversation with Carly and movie night with Fitz that the time had come for her confession. Carly was still at Sawyer's house so this was the perfect opportunity. It was just a matter of getting the words out and bracing herself for the impact.

"I don't know how to tell you what I have to tell you," Olivia began.

"Are you sick?" Alvin asked.

"No!" Olivia said. "God, no. It's not like that."

"Then what's it like?" Eleanor asked.

Olivia stopped moving and turned to face her parents. She injected as much steel into her spine as she could before she spoke.

"Edison isn't Carly's father," Olivia said. "Fitzgerald Grant is."

Both of her parents stared at her and Olivia wasn't certain which one of her two statements was more shocking to them.

"_President _Fitzgerald Grant?" her father asked.

Olivia nodded.

"I know you probably have a million other questions," she said. "I want to answer them but I also want to explain."

She looked back and forth between her parents and her heart squeezed painfully in her chest at the expression on her mother's face. Eleanor looked shocked but more than that, she looked deeply pained.

"Mom?" Olivia asked softly.

"I don't think I'm quite ready for an explanation," Eleanor said. "Until I can get my head around the fact that my daughter, who I raised to be honest and to have integrity, had an affair with a married man, got herself pregnant by him, married another man and lied to everyone, lied to _me_, about it...until I can make sense of that, I'm not ready to hear why it happened. So please excuse me."

She walked out of the living room, back stiff and Olivia felt like she'd been punched in the stomach. Whatever she'd braced herself for didn't matter. This hurt. It hurt a lot. Swallowing, Olivia tried to hold back tears. She turned to her father, not exactly sure what to expect from him. He was a man of principle and he always had been. The fact that he hadn't walked out didn't mean that he'd be any more forgiving than her mother was being.

"You don't need me to tell you that you did wrong," Alvin said after the silence had stretched. "But your mother is right about the fact that we raised you to be honest, to have integrity, to respect people and their relationships to each other so I know that for you to do what you did, powerful feelings had to be involved. You wouldn't turn your back on everything we taught you for something as trifling or tawdry as an affair."

Olivia let out a shaky breath and Alvin continued.

"I can't tell you how I'm going to feel about what you say," Alvin said. "Whether it will make the situation better or worse. But I'm willing to listen."

"Thank you, Daddy," Olivia said.

She sat down on the couch and drew her legs under her. She and her father had had a million conversations like this; her on one end of the couch and him on the other.

"You already know that Fitz and I met on the campaign trail," Olivia said. "When Cyrus asked me to come on board. The connection between us was instant. We both felt it. We both recognized it and we both fought it because we _knew_ it was wrong. His marriage wasn't a happy one but that's no excuse."

She shook her head.

"We fell in love; deeply, completely, irrevocably in love," Olivia said. "And that's not an excuse either but it...it's not easy to walk away from something like that. I'd never felt anything like it before. I didn't think I was capable of it. My whole life, I looked at you and Mom and wondered what it might be like to be so _sure_ that you'd found the person you were meant to walk through life with. Then I met Fitz and I knew."

Olivia pulled a cushion into her lap and hugged it, the action entirely absent minded as she tried to organize her spinning thoughts.

"I didn't make the decision to get involved with him lightly," Olivia said. "And it weighed on me. No matter how right it felt when were together, when you strip it down, he was a married man and I was the other woman. Which is why I broke it off and resigned from the White House."

Understanding lit her father's eyes and Olivia knew it was because her parents had always wondered if there wasn't more to her decision to open Pope & Associates than she'd let on.

"A little more than a year after the election, something came up that brought us back into each other's orbit," Olivia said. "The way we felt about each other hadn't changed and we weren't strong enough to stop. Then I found out I was pregnant and it stopped being about us. We both knew what her life would be like if the truth was out there so I made a decision about what I thought would be best for our baby and he let me do it."

She looked up and met her father's eyes without flinching for the first time since she'd started speaking.

"I know how this looks," Olivia said. "That it might seem to you like Fitz was just another politician cheating on his wife and I was the idiot that put my life on hold for him. If I'm honest, early on, there were times that I thought that myself. But I know better now and whatever else you might be thinking about him right now, I want you to know that Fitz is a _good man_ and that he does love me. And he loves Carly. He would have walked away from the presidency for me, long before Carly was a factor, if I'd let him. But I wouldn't."

"Why not?" Alvin asked.

Olivia gave a small smile.

"Because I knew he'd be a great president," Olivia said. "He was exactly what the country needed and he proved me right."

"Were you seeing him while you were married to Edison?" Alvin asked.

"No," Olivia said. "We made as much of a clean break as we could."

"Why are you telling us this now?" Alvin asked.

"Because he's not the president anymore," Olivia said. "Because he's not married anymore. Because _I'm _not married anymore. His kids know. Now you and Mom know. Eventually, we want Carly to know."

"It sounds like you've made up your mind," Alvin said.

"When you were talking about the things that you and Mom taught me," Olivia said. "You left out that you taught me to always fight for what I believe in. I believe in me and Fitz."

Alvin nodded slowly.

"I'll think on everything you said," he told her.

"Will you talk to Mom?" Olivia asked.

"You and your mother are going to have to make your own peace," Alvin said. "It'll take time."

"Okay," Olivia said quietly.

She glanced at her watch.

"I need to pick Carly up from her friend's house," she said. "I'll wait to hear from you guys?"

"I think that's for the best," Alvin said.

Olivia nodded, gathered her things and let herself out the front door. She'd just started her car when her cell phone chimed with a text message from Fitz asking how things were going. She answered him that it had been every bit as awful as she'd anticipated and seconds later her phone was ringing.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Fitz asked.

"Not really," Olivia said.

"Where are you now?" Fitz asked.

"I'm going to pick up Carly from her friend's house," Olivia said.

"Have time for a detour?" Fitz asked lightly.

"How?" Olivia asked, already cottoning onto the fact that somehow Fitz was in Washington.

"Jerry wanted to go see Karen for the rest of the weekend so I had Jack and David drive him," Fitz said referring to the two agents that kept tabs on Jerry all the time anyway. "Then I flew down. I'm down on the water, near the Sequoia."

"Come over," Olivia said. "Come to the house."

There was a brief moment of silence.

"Are you sure about that?" he asked, his voice grave.

"Yes," Olivia said. "We've wasted enough time and I know this won't be exactly what we wanted it to be yet but there's no reason that Carly can't start to get to know you and honestly, after everything that's just happened with Jerry and my parents, I think we could both use something good. Don't you?"

"I'll meet you there," Fitz said.

"Give us about forty minutes," Olivia said.

"Okay," Fitz said.

"Nervous?" Olivia asked.

"That obvious?" Fitz asked wryly

"I know you," Olivia reminded him. "And after today, so will your daughter."

* * *

An hour after he'd hung up the phone with Olivia, Fitz was pulling up to the curb outside her condo. He'd rented a car and Tom was driving. His mind was a jumble of different thoughts. When he and Carly had spoken on the phone at Christmas, he hadn't had time to think about it. This was different. It was face-to-face and tangible and it could affect all of their futures, immediate and otherwise. And if making a good first impression on his daughter wasn't enough, he was also battling a familiar set of Edison Davis shaped demons.

Olivia hadn't loved him but she had shared a home - _this _home - with him. Fitz wasn't naive enough to think they'd been celibate the entire length of their marriage either so even though it shouldn't have, especially considering the Amanda Tanner situation, it ate at him.

Fitz blinked when the front door opened and Olivia stood in the doorway. His cue to get out of his own head, Fitz realized. After telling Tom that he'd text the next day when he was ready to leave, Fitz pushed the door open and climbed out. He covered the short distance and few steps that separated him from Olivia in a few strides.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi," Olivia said.

They stared at each other for a minute, each cataloging the other's face to determine how they were holding up.

"Come in," Olivia invited.

She stepped aside so he could pass but made sure that his fingers brushed hers as he walked by her.

"Carly's in the kitchen," Olivia said.

She led him down a hallway, through the formal dining room and into the kitchen.

"Pumpkin, come say hi," Olivia said.

Carly turned away from the table she was sitting at to look in their direction.

"This is Mommy's friend, Fitz," Olivia said. "You talked to him on Christmas, remember?"

"Hi," Carly said, giving him a shy smile.

"Hi," Fitz said, smiling back at her.

He took a few steps closer.

"It's really great to meet you," he said, trying to keep his voice light. "What are you working on here?"

He gestured to the construction paper, glue, glitter and bits of dried pasta that littered the table.

"I'm making macaroni animals," Carly said.

"Want some help?" Fitz asked.

Carly pursed her lips and studied him.

"Can you cut sheep?" she asked.

"I could probably manage that," he said, pulling out a chair next to her.

Olivia picked up a pair of scissors out of the drawer and handed them to Fitz. They shared a look over Carly's head and Olivia knew she'd done the right thing asking him to come over.

"How do we feel about chicken fingers for dinner?" she asked, wanting to keep things casual for Carly's sake. She and Fitz would have plenty of time to savor the significance of the moment later.

"We feel good," Carly said.

"_You_ feel good," Olivia said. "But you didn't ask our guest."

Carly turned a scandalized look on Fitz as if she couldn't even fathom that he might not like chicken fingers.

"I love chicken fingers," he assured her.

Carly turned back to her mother.

"So there," she said.

"Watch the sass, little miss," Olivia said, ruffling her daughter's hair.

"Hey!" Carly protested, trying to duck away from her mother's hand.

Olivia laughed and moved to the fridge to start pulling out ingredients for dinner. Her eyes kept darting across the room though, taking in Fitz and Carly, with their heads bent together as they debated glitter colors and pasta shapes. She hadn't doubted for a minute that Fitz would be good with Carly but seeing it, seeing them, was everything Olivia had hoped it would be.

"Where do you come from?" Olivia heard Carly ask.

"California originally," Fitz said. "Do you know where that is?"

"Far away?" Carly offered.

Fitz chuckled.

"Yeah, it's all the way on the other side of the country," he agreed. "You know I have a ranch there. We don't have any sheep but we have cows and horses."

Carly's eyes were wide.

"Really?" she asked.

Fitz nodded.

"Have you ever been on a horse before?" he asked.

"I been on a baby horse," Carly said. "Grandma Davis took me once when I was littler. Do you have baby horses?"

"A couple," Fitz said. "If you and your mom ever come out there maybe one of them can be yours."

"My own horse?" Carly exclaimed.

"Fitz!" Olivia scolded, trying – and failing – to sound stern. "You can't just give her a horse."

"Why can't he?" Carly asked.

"Yeah, why I can't I?" Fitz asked, giving her a boyish grin. "Are you upset that I'm not offering you a horse too? Cause I can fix that."

"I don't want a horse," Olivia said. "And Carly can _borrow_ one, on this trip to California that I'm sure you're planning to consult me about."

Fitz winked at Carly.

"You can pretend to borrow it," he said in a fake whisper. "But really, it'll be yours. Just don't tell your mother."

Carly giggled and Fitz thought it was one of the most beautiful sounds he'd ever heard. He resisted the urge to scoop her up and cuddle her close, but only just.

The doorbell rang and Fitz glanced over at Olivia.

"Expecting anyone?" he asked.

"No," Olivia said.

"Can I answer?" Carly asked.

"Not by yourself," Olivia replied.

She held up her flour-covered hands and gestured to the pan of hot oil in front of her.

"Fitz, would you mind?" she asked.

"Not at all," Fitz said.

He stood up and held his hand out to Carly. She put hers in it with barely a moment's hesitation. The gesture was so simple, so innocent, so trusting and it reminded Fitz of the responsibility that he had to her, to protect her.

"I wanna peek through the door," Carly said. "Can I?"

"I don't know, short stuff," Fitz teased her. "I don't think you can reach."

"You hafta pick me up," Carly said exasperatedly.

Fitz swung her up into his arms, marveling at how small she felt. Leaning forward, Carly pressed her eye to the peephole in the door.

"It's Grandma Davis," she announced.

"Oh sh—ugar," Fitz said, catching the curse in time.

"Sugar?" Carly repeated quizzically.

"It's an expression," Fitz said.

He set her back down on her feet.

"Do me a favor?" he asked. "Go tell your mom who it is."

"'Kay," Carly said, darting back towards the kitchen.

Straightening up and making a judgment call, Fitz swung the door open.

Marilyn Davis stared at him in mute shock for several moments.

"Mr. President," she finally said. "This is most unexpected."

"Mrs. Davis," Fitz said carefully. "Won't you come in?"


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: After tonight's episode, I think coherent thought is beyond me. So just know that your response to the last chapter BLEW me away; I think a lot of you were waiting for that first meeting with Fitz and Carly. I'm glad you seem to have enjoyed it and your comments definitely bring a smile to my face. Hopefully this chapter brings on to yours!**

* * *

Olivia stared at her daughter, trying to process the child's words.

Edison's mother was here? Now? Out in the hall with Fitz?

That last thought galvanized her and hurriedly wiping her hands on her apron and flipping off the stove, she strode towards the front door. She found Marilyn Davis standing stiffly just inside the hallway and Fitz was wearing an expression that he'd perfected while he was in office. If you didn't know better, you'd think it was bland, uninterested. But Olivia knew better and she knew that if Marilyn made one wrong move, Fitz was going to eviscerate her.

"Marilyn," Olivia said. "This is a surprise."

The older woman turned to look at her and Olivia saw the flash of disapproval in her eyes. Acutely aware that Carly was in earshot, she forced her tone to be something approaching pleasant.

"We're almost ready for dinner," Olivia said. "Would you care to join us?"

"We're having chicken fingers," Carly piped up.

"That sounds delicious sweet pea," Marilyn said with a small smile. "But I have to get back to your Grandpa Darren. I just wanted to stop by and talk to your Mama about you spending some time with us. Dana and Craig are having a BBQ tomorrow."

She crouched down so she was eyelevel with Carly.

"Would you like to go and play with your cousins?" she asked.

Olivia didn't give Carly a chance to answer.

"We already have plans for tomorrow," she said. "Maybe if I'd known beforehand…"

She trailed off and gave a small shrug.

"Olivia, can we have a word in private?" Marilyn asked thinly.

Olivia looked down at Carly, smoothing her hand over the top of the little girl's head.

"You know what pumpkin, you haven't shown Fitz your dollhouse," she said. "Remember you told him all about it at Christmas?"

Sensing that all was not right in the air, Carly nodded mutely and shuffled a little closer to her mother. Fitz, who had barely moved since letting Marilyn inside, softened his expression as he bent over to speak to Carly.

"I have a really important question for you," he confided. "How do you feel about piggy back rides?"

Carly gave him a shy smile and then a delighted chortle when he scooped her up, swung her around and settled her on his back.

"Now which way to the dollhouse?" he asked.

Tightening one arm around his neck, Carly pointed towards the den with her other hand.

"S'in the playroom," she said.

Fitz glanced at Olivia to make sure she was okay and she gave him a small nod. He headed down the hallway and Olivia could hear him asking Carly if he there was a dress code for her dollhouse. When she was certain that they were out of earshot, Olivia turned to her former mother in law, not waiting for the other woman to draw first blood.

"This is my home," Olivia said firmly. "Your son no longer lives here. Your son is no longer my husband. You turning up here without even the slightest advance warning is completely inappropriate."

Marilyn scoffed.

"You don't want to talk to me about inappropriate," Marilyn spat. "The ink is barely dry on your divorce papers and you're already shacking up with someone else, the former president of the United States, no less."

"My personal life is none of your business," Olivia bit out.

"It is when it affects my granddaughter," Marilyn replied. "Now, I don't know what Edison was thinking signing sole custody over to you but I am _not_ going to let you cut us out of Carly's life. I'm _not_ going to let you have that little girl forgetting who her father is, who her family is."

"_I _am her family," Olivia said fiercely. "Carly is _my_ daughter. If you have a problem with the arrangements that Edison and I _both_ agreed to then you need to take that up with him."

Marilyn shook her head.

"You may have had my son fooled but I know exactly what kind of woman you are," she said bitterly. "And if I have to go to court to make sure that Carly has a relationship with her father, then I will."

Olivia bit back the urge to pull the rug out from under Marilyn and just tell her that Carly was exactly where she belonged right now; with her father. But she didn't trust Marilyn and she wasn't giving the woman any ammunition.

"You know, if you had approached this differently, I _might_ have been willing to find a compromise," Olivia said. "But I don't respond to threats. You don't have a legal leg to stand on, which Edison would probably tell you if you'd bothered to consult him."

She moved to the front door and yanked it open.

"I have nothing left to say to you," Olivia said.

Marilyn straightened to her full height.

"This isn't over," she said.

"Yes," Olivia said. "It is."

She waited until Marilyn had stalked past her and then she shut the door with a bit more force than was actually necessary. Knowing she needed to gather her wits, she went back into the kitchen and finished making dinner. After cleaning up and setting the table, she discarded her apron and went in search of the two most important people in her life.

She found them still in Carly's playroom, sitting cross-legged on the floor. Olivia's lips twitched when she saw that Carly had draped a blue feather boa around Fitz's neck and was currently going through very elaborate motions of pouring fake tea into little china teacups for her dolls.

Fitz's expression as he watched her was full of wonder and tenderness and it melted Olivia's heart. She stood in the doorway, just watching them until Fitz looked up and spotted her.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi," she said. "You guys ready to eat?"

"Yeah!" Carly exclaimed.

"You know the drill," Olivia said to her. "Go wash up."

Carly dashed out of the room to comply and Fitz got to his feet and reached for Olivia. She went willingly, savoring the strength of his arms as they wrapped around her.

"Blue feathers are a good look for you," she teased lightly.

"What can I say?" Fitz asked, brushing his lips over hers. "I'm a trendsetter."

He nuzzled her cheek.

"Everything okay?" he asked.

"It wasn't pleasant," Olivia said. "But it's handled. For now at least."

"Thank you by the way," Fitz said.

"For?"

"For being such a great mother for our daughter," Fitz said quietly.

Olivia looked away from him, burying her face in his chest. Immediately, Fitz sensed something was wrong and his hands framed her cheeks, forcing her to look at him.

"Livvy?" he asked.

"I built her entire life around a lie," Olivia said. "What kind of mother does that?"

"The kind making the best of impossible circumstances," Fitz said firmly.

Olivia shook her head.

"You know what she said to me the other day?" she asked. "She said, 'I don't think my daddy likes me very much'. That is _not_ something that any child should ever have to think about."

"Look at me," Fitz said.

He waited until Olivia's gaze slid over and met his.

"We'll fix it," he said. "We'll put it behind us and make sure she never has those kinds of doubts ever again."

Hearing Carly's footsteps thundering back in their direction, Olivia stepped out of his arms.

"All clean," Carly said, holding out her hands for Olivia to inspect.

"Good girl," Olivia said.

Fitz cell phone rang in his pocket and he extracted it.

"Karen," he said to Olivia.

"We'll meet you in the kitchen," Olivia said, guiding Carly out into the hall.

Fitz nodded.

"Hey, Kare-Bear," he said into his phone.

"Jerry's asleep on the couch," Karen said. "Kid's exhausted."

"He's had a rough couple of days," Fitz acknowledged.

There was a brief pause.

"How are you?" Fitz asked.

Karen sighed.

"Dad, I don't know what to do," she admitted. "I keep going back and forth between what I feel and what I _think_ I should feel."

"So talk to me," Fitz said. "Maybe I can help."

"I don't want to hurt your feelings," Karen said.

"As long as you're being honest, I'll be fine," Fitz told her.

"I was 12 when I decided that I wanted you and Mom to get divorced," Karen said. "I didn't realize it then but that was around the same time that Olivia left you. All I could figure was that being with Mom wasn't making you happy. And Mom…I think I knew even then that _people_ weren't what it took to make her happy."

She huffed out a breath.

"I'm not even sure Mom has ever actually _been_ happy," she continued.

"Your mother is a complicated woman," Fitz said.

"One way of putting it," Karen agreed. "I guess what I'm getting at is that there's a part of me that doesn't blame you for straying but then there's this other part of me that doesn't know how to get past it because… It changes everything, Dad. Maybe it shouldn't but it _does."_

"It does change everything," Fitz agreed. "I know that this has come as a big shock to you and Jerry and maybe I should have said something earlier; been honest because it was the right thing to do and not just because circumstances with me and Liv have changed."

He paused to search for the right words.

"I don't want to put pressure on either one of you," he finally said. "I don't want to force you to accept something that you're not ready for."

"But?" Karen asked.

"But I want us to find a way through it," Fitz said. "I want us – all of us – to be a family."

"That's a big ask," Karen said.

"I know," Fitz said.

"Can I ask you something?" Karen asked.

"Anything," Fitz said.

"How come you didn't leave Mom for Liv before?" Karen asked. "I mean before she got pregnant and everything got so complicated?"

"It was always complicated," Fitz said wryly. "If it had only been up to me then I would have. But life isn't always picture perfect and we don't always get what we want. My turn to ask a question?"

"Sure," Karen said.

"If I had left your mother, if you'd known about Olivia before Carly was born," Fitz said. "Would that change anything for you now?"

"I don't know," Karen said. "Maybe. Weird, right?"

"Not like there's anything normal about this situation," Fitz said.

"Yeah," Karen said.

Fitz heard a doorbell buzz in the background.

"Pizza's here," Karen said. "I ordered Jer's favorite."

"You take good care of him," Fitz said.

"It's what sisters do," Karen said.

There was a slightly awkward silence and Fitz got the feeling that Karen was thinking about Carly.

"I should go," Karen said.

"Love you, baby girl," Fitz said but she'd already hung up.

* * *

"We need a plan," Olivia said.

She joined Fitz on the living room couch and curled her body into his.

"We need several plans actually," Olivia said. "Every contingency accounted for."

"For when we tell Carly the truth?" Fitz asked.

Olivia nodded.

"There's no point telling her if she has to keep it a secret," Olivia said. "That will just confuse things more. But once it's out, it's out. We have to be ready."

"You want to bring your team in, don't you?" Fitz asked.

Olivia looked up at him.

"They're the best," she said simply.

"Okay," Fitz said. "Just tell me when and where."

"Funny," Olivia said with a small smile. "I thought that would take a little more convincing."

"Why?" Fitz asked. "I trust your gut."

"That makes one of us," Olivia said wryly.

"Livvy," Fitz said reproachfully.

"Sorry," Olivia sighed. "It's been a long day. I'm just…"

"Tense," Fitz said. "You need to relax."

He shifted their positions so he was leaning against the arm of the sofa and Olivia's back was to him, Placing his hands on her shoulders, he slowly started to knead her flesh, working out the knots and the kinks. Olivia let out a low moan.

"Feel good?" Fitz asked huskily.

"Uh huh," Olivia said, letting her eyes fall shut.

Fitz kept up the massage until Olivia had practically melted on top of him, then he slid his palms down her bare arms and settled his hands low on her stomach.

"We should go to bed," Olivia said.

"Or we could stay here," Fitz murmured.

"Made up the guest room," Olivia said. "If that's what's bothering you."

"It's not," Fitz said.

Olivia arched an eyebrow even though her eyes were still closed.

"Not just that," Fitz amended.

"If you say so," she said with a tiny yawn.

She reached for the afghan that was draped over the back of the couch and minutes later, Fitz was sprawled on his back, Olivia had plastered herself on top of him and covered them both with the heavy knit.

She was asleep not long after that, her breath warm and steady against his neck. It was such a simple thing to hold the woman you loved while she slept but Fitz didn't think he'd ever take it for granted, not after everything that it had taken to get them here.

He thought back to his conversation with Karen and knew that they still had a very long road ahead of them; with his kids, with Olivia's parents, with the world at large when the truth was revealed. Then he thought of Carly's smile, of how it was bright like Liv's and a little crooked like his. He thought of how far Olivia had come from the woman who had fought so long and hard to keep him at a distance because she was scared of being vulnerable. They'd overcome far too much to let anything get in the way now.

The certainty soothed him and he drifted off to sleep with a smile on his face. Hours later – he wasn't sure how many – the feel of tiny fingers prying his eye lids open one at a time, brought him back to consciousness.

"Hello, Carly," Fitz said, turning his head to look at her.

She gave him a devilish grin, which turned into a soft shriek when he captured her hand and pretended to chomp on her fingers. Remarkably, Olivia didn't stir except to curl her fingers more tightly into his shirt.

"Ready for breakfast?" Fitz surmised.

Carly nodded and Fitz carefully slid out from underneath Olivia, replaced his chest under her head with one of the couch cushions and tucked the afghan securely around her. Then he scooped Carly under his arm as if she were a mini football and made the trek to the kitchen. He set her down in one of the high chairs at the kitchen island and then rounded it.

"What are you hungry for?" he asked her.

"Cocoa Puffs," Carly said without hesitation.

"Cereal, okay," Fitz said. "Point me in the right direction."

Carly indicated all the relevant cabinets and a few minutes later, Fitz set a bowl of cereal and milk in front of her. Handing over a spoon, he turned to start a pot of coffee.

"Are you Mommy's boyfriend?" Carly asked, between bites.

Fitz turned to look at her over his shoulder.

"What do you know about boyfriends?" he asked.

"I got one," Carly said.

Fitz coughed.

"You have a boyfriend?" he asked.

"Uh huh," Carly said, taking another bite of her breakfast. "His name's Omar. He brings me candy."

Fitz was saved having to respond by Olivia padding into the kitchen, the afghan wrapped around her like an oversized shawl.

"Good morning," she said.

She smiled at Carly and gave Fitz's ass a quick pinch on her way to the coffee pot.

"Are you aware that your daughter is dating?" Fitz asked.

"Oh, you mean Omar?" Olivia asked.

"You approve?" Fitz asked.

"They had matching costumes at Halloween," Olivia said, eyes alight with mischief. "It's hard not to."

Fitz rolled his eyes towards the ceiling and Olivia laughed out loud.

"I think Fitz is jealous that he has competition for your affections," she said to Carly.

"Maybe a little," Fitz allowed with a grin.

Olivia handed him a mug of coffee and then added two spoons of sugar to her own.

"I was thinking we could drive out to Old Town," Olivia said. "But it depends on what time you have to leave."

"Pilot filed a flight plan for a 1 o'clock departure," Fitz said. "So we have the morning."

Olivia nodded.

"We can browse around out there, have an early lunch and then drop you off at the airport," she said.

"Why you leaving?" Carly asked Fitz.

"I've got people waiting on me back in Boston," Fitz said. "So I have to go back, but we'll visit again soon. Is that okay?"

"Yeah," Carly said, nodding. "Do you have baby horses in Boss-town too?"

"No animals of any kind in Boston, no." Fitz said. "Unless you count my son Jerry when he's eating."

Carly perked up.

"You have a son?" she asked.

"I do," Fitz said. "He's fourteen. And my oldest daughter, Karen, is seventeen."

Carly scrunched up her nose.

"They're _old_," she said.

Olivia burst out laughing and Fitz gave a wry shake of his head.

"I guess that makes me downright _ancient_," he said.

Carly slithered off her chair and then reached up to carry her bowl and spoon from the counter to the sink.

"Don't worry, _old man_," Olivia teased, deliberately brushing against him as she turned around. "I know you still got game."

"Miss Pope, you are going to pay for that," Fitz whispered into the back of her neck.

"I know," Olivia said. "I'm counting on it."


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: This is another of those transition-y type chapters so as always, please bear with me. And I know I've said this many times before but the reviews and comments really do mean a lot; I love seeing how people react to the story and respond to the characters. Plus, sometimes the plot bunnies find inspiration in what you guys have to say and that's always fun. :-)**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

"I want to go back to boarding school," Jerry said.

Fitz looked up from the report he was reading about the conflict in the Congo and took in his son's approach. Jerry came to a stop in front of Fitz's desk and Fitz could tell that he was trying to look defiant and determined. He wasn't doing a very good job. All Fitz could see was the uncertainty and the fear and it made his throat tighten up a little as he pushed his chair back and stood up.

Jerry eyed him warily and even took a few steps back as Fitz rounded the desk and walked towards him.

"You don't want to go back to boarding school," Fitz said.

"Don't tell me what I want," Jerry snapped. "You don't have the first clue."

"I think you're wrong about that," Fitz said. "But say you're not. How about this then? _I_ don't want you to go back to boarding school."

"Well too bad," Jerry said. "Because I don't want to be here."

"Is that the truth?" Fitz asked. "Or do you have some misguided notion that if you leave you'll be doing me a favor?"

Jerry looked away but the way his expression tightened told Fitz he'd hit the nail on the head.

"Look at me, kid," Fitz said, putting his hand around the back of Jerry's neck. "The only favor I need is for you to stick around and give me a chance to fix this with you."

"Yeah but," Jerry started.

"No buts," Fitz interrupted. "You're my son. I love you. Nothing and no one can ever mess with that."

Jerry narrowed his eyes but Fitz could tell he was testing the sincerity of the words out in his mind.

"C'mere," Fitz said, tugging Jerry into a hug.

The boy resisted at first, holding extremely stiff and still but after a moment he relaxed.

"I know you've had your life turned upside down a lot," Fitz said, stepping back. "And it's possible that your mother and I haven't paid as much attention as we should have to how that affected you. But it's a new world. We can do better. You just have to be in it with us."

"Except "us" isn't you and Mom," Jerry pointed out. "It's…honestly, I don't even know."

"Okay," Fitz said, leaning back against his desk. "So let's talk about it."

He nodded for Jerry to sit down in one of the armchairs.

"Whatever the relationship between us, your mother is still your mother and I'm still your father," Fitz said. "We both love you and our responsibilities to you are the same as they've always been."

Jerry gave him a skeptical look.

"That doesn't mean that other things haven't changed," Fitz acknowledged. "Olivia and Carly are a big piece of what I want life to look like from now on. I think if you gave them a chance, you might find that that's not such a bad thing."

There was a long pause before Jerry finally spoke.

"I guess," he said. "But it's going to be weird. I mean, aren't people going to ask questions?"

"Eventually, yeah," Fitz said. "And we're going to have a plan in place so we're ready when it happens. But mostly, we just need to work on figuring out how to be a family."

He placed a hand on Jerry's shoulder.

"It's not going to be conventional, I'll give you that," Fitz said. "But it could be just the kind of "normal" you've been looking for, if you let it."

"You think?" Jerry asked.

"It's worth a shot, isn't it?" Fitz asked.

"If I say yes, what happens next?" Jerry asked.

"That depends," Fitz said. "Are you saying yes?"

Jerry gave him a reproachful look.

"Don't do your president thing on me," he said.

Fitz gave a small smile.

"We could invite them up next weekend," Fitz offered. "See how it goes. Karen can come up too if she's feeling up to it. Does that sound like a good first step?"

"Would they stay here?" Jerry asked.

"Not unless you're comfortable with it," Fitz said.

"I guess it would be okay," Jerry said, after a minute.

"I appreciate it, buddy," Fitz said.

"I was thinking about going for a run," Jerry said. "Wanna come?"

Fitz hated running but he wasn't about to pass the up the chance for quality time with his son.

"Sure," he said. "You going to tell me about that Rachel girl who called and left a message?"

Jerry glared at him but he was blushing furiously.

"She's my chemistry lab partner," he said.

"She left three messages," Fitz said. "Pretty dedicated study partner."

"Shut it, old man," Jerry said.

Fitz laughed.

"Meet you out front in ten," he said.

The rest of the afternoon passed in that kind of healthy competitive and teasing atmosphere that only fathers and sons with a fundamentally good relationship can create. After their run, they picked up sushi for dinner since it was apparently Jerry's new favorite and caught the end of whatever basketball game was on TV.

Fitz's phone, which was on the coffee table, rang somewhere in the middle of the fourth quarter. Liv's name flashed on the caller id and Fitz's glanced at Jerry.

"I can call her back," he said.

Jerry shook his head.

"I have history homework to finish anyway," he said. "It's cool."

"Sure?" Fitz asked.

"God, Dad," Jerry said rolling his eyes. "What's the point of me saying I'm fine with all this if all you're going to do is keep asking me am I sure? Are you trying to get me to change my mind or what?"

"No," Fitz said.

"Then answer the phone," Jerry said.

He grabbed his plate and headed to the kitchen.

"Jeez," he muttered.

Fitz's lips twitched and he picked up his phone.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi," Olivia said. "You sound amused."

"You know teenagers," Fitz said. "Endless sources of entertainment."

"I try not to think about it," Olivia said. "Carly is a handful at five. I'd rather not consider what 15 will be like until I get there."

"Speaking of getting places," Fitz said. "How do you feel about coming up to Boston this weekend with Carly?"

"How would that work?" Olivia asked.

"Jerry and I had a talk," Fitz said. "At the end of the day, I think he needs stability more than anything else. It's not so much about the moving around as it is about the people who are steady presences in his life."

"With you in office and now Mellie…" Olivia began.

"Exactly," Fitz said. "I think I managed to convince him that this could be a chance to change all of that. He's willing to give it a shot at any rate."

"That's really great, Fitz," Olivia said.

"One down and three to go," Fitz said wryly. "How's the rest of your Sunday been?"

"Funny you should ask that," Olivia said. "Edison called."

"Let me guess, he got an earful from his mother," Fitz said.

"An earful that was less about her threatening to sue for custody and more about the fact that you answered the door without shoes on," Olivia agreed. "He says I'm being reckless, that if we're not more careful, everything we've done to protect Carly will be for nothing. I'd like to say that he's completely wrong about that but…"

"This is why we're bringing your team on board," Fitz pointed out.

"This is why I'm at Abby's house right now," Olivia said. "Everyone is meeting me here. And Cyrus is coming too. Edison is not acting rational and he told his mother the truth about Carly so god only knows what she'll do. We don't just need a plan, we need…"

"Leverage," Fitz said. "Ammunition, 1000 answers to a 100 questions."

"Right," Olivia said. "How far away are you from a computer? Huck can patch you in."

"We're at home," Fitz said, standing up. "Let me just relocate to my office."

He huffed out a breath as he walked.

"A few weeks ago," he said. "I wasn't sure that I'd ever see you again. Now we're making battle plans together."

"And it's going to be great," Olivia said.

"It's going to be great," Fitz agreed.

* * *

There was a moment of silence after Olivia finished laying the truth out to her Gladiators and then Harrison sprung into action.

"Alright people, let's take it from the top," he said. "Our first and biggest obstacle is the number 5; like Carly's age. The minute this is out, people start counting and come up with Carly being conceived when President Grant…"

"You can call me Fitz," Fitz interjected.

"When Fitz was still in office," Harrison said, without missing a beat.

"And married," Abby added.

"Those are facts we can't spin," Harrison said.

"So we have to distract," Quinn threw in.

"We have to give the public, give _America_, a story so seductive they won't be looking at the details," Harrison said.

"Except we can't give it to them," Abby said. "Or else it'll feel fake. They have to want it."

"We have to make them want it," Huck said.

"Stage it," Cyrus suggested. "Bit by bit, piece by piece. Start with a few lines in some low key local paper outside of D.C."

"Boston or California," Abby said picking up the theme.

"Former president and one time communications director seen out and about," Quinn said.

"Then the next time a photo," Cyrus said. "Something cute and cozy. The caption stresses things like long standing friendship, deep respect."

"Genuine affection," Abby said. "Then we bring Carly into the picture."

"Good, good," Harrison said. "We set the bait and wait for the big fish to bite. Let's talk variables."

"Three sets," Olivia said, joining the conversation for the first time since she'd opened up the meeting. She and Fitz had agreed that they'd mostly sit back since technically they were the clients. "My parents, Fitz's kids and both of our exes, plus Edison's mother."

"Status?" Harrison asked.

"Jerry's got us on a trial run," Fitz said. "Karen is still working through it. I don't want to bring either of them into this if it can be avoided. And as for Mellie, who knows? I'd swear unpredictable was her middle name if I didn't know for a fact that it was Lucifer."

"Mellie's out for Mellie," Cyrus said. "If she can find a way to use this to her advantage, then she will. But she won't want to undermine her credibility as Secretary of State by slinging mud about Fitz and his affair."

He smirked.

"Not to mention that if we have to, we've got enough dirt on her to make her compliant," he said.

"What about Edison?" Harrison asked Olivia.

"He's bitter," Olivia said. "I don't blame him but it makes him volatile. He doesn't want to be made a fool."

"All things considered, you kept a low profile while the two of you were married," Quinn pointed out. "Occupational hazard. Plus the divorce has been pretty quick and quiet."

"We should be able to create and maintain distance," Harrison agreed. "But if he decides to stick his nose in…"

"Or if his mother does," Abby added.

Harrison asked a silent question and Olivia gave a brief nod.

"Huck," Harrison said.

"Got it," Huck said.

"That leaves your parents," Harrison said.

"They might not help but they won't get in the way either," Olivia said. "They love Carly too much for that."

"Alright," Harrison said. "Bases are covered, let's hammer out the details."

Within minutes, the room had been cleared, with everyone off to handle their various tasks. Only Olivia and Cyrus, and Fitz on the computer screen were left.

"Wow," Fitz said, with a grin. "I'm starting to understand why no one ever beats you. That was impressive."

"You've taught them well," Cyrus agreed.

"They've all taught me more than you know," Olivia said.

"Modesty doesn't suit you," Cyrus said wryly. "Now I better get back out to the pool before James throws a fit to rival one of Carly's."

He pushed back a chair and started to head for the sliding doors.

"Cyrus," Fitz said. "Thank you, for being a part of this, helping us."

Cyrus nodded.

"I owe you," he said simply.

"Do I want to know what he meant by that?" Olivia asked when they were alone.

"Considering how much crap we've all pulled in the time we've known each other," Fitz said. "He could be talking about anything."

"That's a terrifying thought," Olivia said with a small smile.

"Right?" Fitz agreed.

"There's one thing we didn't talk about," Olivia said.

"When we actually tell Carly," Fitz said.

"Yeah," Olivia said. "You have thoughts on that?"

"Millions," Fitz said. "Part of me says the sooner the better."

"The other part?" Olivia asked.

"Feels like we need to settle things a bit more," Fitz said. "It's going to change things for her and however well she might take it, I don't think it's a good idea to have the rest of her world in turmoil when it happens."

"I agree," Olivia said. "I just…I know how much we want this and how long we've waited so…"

"We've got time," Fitz said. "Where things stand, we've got plenty of time. Besides, I like where this is now. I like that we can spend time together without any of the pressure on. I think we all need to get used to what that's like."

"We can do that," Olivia said.

"You never actually answered about Boston next weekend," Fitz said. "What do you think?"

"I think you better stock up on pink lemonade," Olivia said. "Because it's Carly's new obsession as of three hours ago."

"Duly noted," Fitz said with a smile. "Anything else?"

Olivia opened her mouth and then shook her head.

"I was going to tell you to Carly proof the place but never mind," she said. "I'll send Huck."

Fitz stared at her.

"You're sending a trained killer to child proof an apartment?" he asked.

"Not child proof," Olivia said. "_Carly_ proof. That trained killer is your baby's guardian angel and she adores him. The flip side of that is that she's always been extremely observant so the way Huck sees a room and the way Carly sees a room, not actually that different."

"You realize how alarming that sounds, don't you?" Fitz asked. "Should I be alarmed?"

"No," Olivia said.

Fitz gave her a skeptical look.

"Not much," she amended.

"I told Jerry we wouldn't be conventional," Fitz said. "Why do I suddenly feel like that's the understatement of the year?"

Olivia grinned at him.

"What are you talking about?" she asked. "Understatement of the decade, at least."

* * *

"Karen, come _on," _Francesca said. "You have to come with us tonight. You've been a mopey wreck since you got back on campus."

Karen shrugged.

"I'm just not in the mood for a party," she said.

"That's exactly why you need to come," Francesca said. "Let your hair down and forget whatever's got you in such a crappy mood."

It was tempting, Karen thought to herself. Ever since she found out about her dad's extramarital relationship and the half sister she'd acquired as a result, she'd been all over the place. The time spent with her mother over the holidays hadn't helped. Her mom was as self-absorbed as always, not even noticing that anything was wrong.

Not that Karen would have confided in her even she had. Still, it would have been nice if she'd noticed.

Karen sighed.

She'd given up looking for her mother to be attentive a long time so. Or so she kept trying to convince herself. For some reason, that never stopped her from being disappointed.

"Kaaaaaaaareeeeeeeeeeeeeen," Francesca whined.

"Oh, alright!" Karen said. "I'll go."

She reached for her cell phone.

"Just let me call Jessica," she said.

Francesca made a face.

"Do you have to?" she asked. "I mean, she's cool and everything but _seriously_, she follows you everywhere. Shouldn't she have her own friends by now?"

Karen bit her lip.

Jessica wasn't actually her friend at all. She was a secret service agent, masquerading as a college freshman in order to keep an eye on Karen. She'd had to push long and _very_ hard with her Dad to get him to agree to only having one agent with her and not making it common knowledge that said agent _was_ an agent.

Only her word that she wouldn't ever deliberately ditch Jessica or question her orders had gotten him to agree, because he trusted her to keep her promise, to not let him down.

Realizing that right now, that trust didn't really go both ways, Karen slipped her phone into her pocket and fixed Francesca with a smile that was only a little bit forced.

"Let's party," she said.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: I held off on updating until after tonight's episode because I figured some distraction might be in order. I wasn't wrong. I hope you guys enjoy this! As always your reviews and comments are pure love 3**

* * *

"Jerry, have you talked to your sister lately?" Fitz asked. "She left me a message on Wednesday to say that she was coming up this weekend but I haven't been able to catch up to her since."

"She texted me yesterday," Jerry said. "She said she was feeling a little sick but she's been busy with classes and stuff. Why?"

"Just wanted to make sure nothing was wrong," Fitz said lightly.

He glanced at his watch.

"Liv and Carly will be here any minute," he said.

"Yeah, I got that," Jerry said.

Fitz started to say something else then decided against it.

"Have a beer, Dad," Jerry said with a smirk. "You look like you need it."

"It's 10 am," Fitz said, rolling his eyes. "Don't be such a smart ass, kid."

"Who do you think I get it from," Jerry retorted.

"I'm not sure I should answer that without a lawyer present," Fitz replied.

"Whatever, Dad," Jerry said, shaking his head and turning his attention back to the video game on the screen in front of him. Fitz left him to it and cut across the foyer to the large kitchen on the right. He pulled open the fridge and extracted a bottle of water as opposed to the beer that Jerry had suggested.

He wasn't so much nervous as he was impatient. Liv and Carly had touched down forty minutes ago and Olivia had texted to let him know that they were on their way. He'd convinced her to fly rather than take the train, pointing out that the shorter trip would be easier on Carly and therefore on her, but Liv had flatly refused to let him charter a plane for them. She'd also made him promise that there would be no limos waiting, not even a luxury car service.

Which meant there was literally nothing for him to do, to plan, or to double check. There was just the waiting and it was making him a little crazy. Actually, truth be told, he'd been a little bored and a little cooped up this week. His days had consisted of a couple hours in the gym, and endless hours of research and conference calls to prepare for his work with the U.N. In fact he'd be traveling to New York in a few days to start handpicking his staff.

The doorbell rang and Fitz's head snapped up, reverie definitively broken. It took him a little less than a dozen strides to reach the front door and swing it open.

"Hello," Olivia said.

Fitz grinned, feeling the world around him still and settle into place.

"Hello," he said. "Come on in."

He reached for her coat and gave her a kiss on the cheek; not the greeting that he'd had given her if they'd been alone but one that would have do for now. When he'd slid her coat into the closet, he turned to crouch in front of Carly.

"You look so stylish it's almost a shame to take it all off," he said, taking in the pink and white knit hat on her head, matching mittens, pink coat and white Wellingtons with little pink flowers. Carly smiled but that didn't stop her from yanking off her mittens and tugging on the buttons of her coat.

"Guess what?" she said to Fitz as he helped her pull off her boots. "One of my teeth is loose!"

She stuck out her tongue and wiggled her tooth with it.

"See?"

"I do see," Fitz agreed. "Is that the first one you're going to lose?"

Carly nodded enthusiastically.

"She's been really cranky about it too," Olivia said, amused. "All of her other friends have already lost at least one."

"I remember Jerry trying to get a hold of a pair of pliers from my dad's old tool box, when he was that age," Fitz said.

"What's pliers?" Carly asked.

"Nothing you need to worry about," Olivia said.

She lowered her voice so only Fitz could hear her.

"Do _not_ give her ideas," she said.

Fitz smirked and held his hand out to Carly.

"Come on, short stuff," he said. "There's someone I want you to meet."

He led the way into the living room where Jerry was still engrossed in his video games.

"Jerry, say hi," Fitz instructed.

Pausing the game, Jerry looked over at them and stood up, slightly awkwardly as if he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do next.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey Jerry," Olivia said with a small smile. "Your dad neglected to mention that you're almost as tall as he is now."

She gave Fitz a bit of a side eye.

"Feeling threatened Mr. President?" she asked.

"Of course," Fitz said dryly. "I live in constant fear of my son being taller, stronger and better looking than I am."

Jerry looked back and forth between them.

"Are you two like this all the time?" he asked. "Because seriously, _gross."_

Olivia hid her smirk by looking down at her daughter.

"Aren't you going to say hello?" she asked.

Carly buried her face in Olivia's side but ruined the effect by peeking in Jerry's direction a few seconds later. When she noticed they all had their eyes on her, her face went right back into Olivia's shirt.

"She's not normally so shy," Olivia said, running her fingers through Carly's hair.

Carly turned her face slightly and darted another look at Jerry.

"Not shy," she mumbled.

"You're acting shy," Olivia pointed out.

Carly shook her head no and wiggled so that her back was pressed to Olivia's thigh.

"My tooth's loose," she informed Jerry. "Wanna see?"

"Uh, sure," Jerry said.

Carly opened her mouth wide so he could observe for himself the tooth in question.

"My grandpa yanked out my first loose tooth," Jerry told her. "Gave me a $100 dollars for it."

"Can I have $100 dollars for my tooth?" Carly asked her mother.

"What would you do with a $100 dollars?" Olivia retorted.

Carly frowned.

"Dunno," she said.

"When you have an answer, we can talk about it," Olivia said.

Carly sighed and then turned her attention back to Jerry. She took a few steps in his direction but glanced back at Fitz and Olivia several times.

"Whatcha doing?" she asked Jerry, looking at the TV screen which was frozen on the image of an explosion at sea.

"It's a video game," Jerry said. "Navy stuff, submarines, secret missions, that kind of thing."

"Can I play?" Carly asked. "I'm good at video games. I play with Huck."

Fitz shot Olivia a look.

"I'll explain later," Olivia said.

She turned to face Jerry.

"It's fine if you don't mind teaching her," Olivia said. "But don't let her be a nuisance either."

"Mommy!" Carly scolded. "I'm not a noo'ense."

She looked so indignant that Jerry found himself grinning down at her.

"It's cool," he said. "I don't mind."

Carly sniffed in her mother's direction, obviously not completely appeased and then she crawled onto the couch on the other side of where Jerry was sitting back down.

"Okay so this button," Jerry began, unfreezing the screen and pointing to the controller, "is where you fire from."

"Huck says you only shoot if someone is a th-thr…"

"Threat?" Jerry offered.

"Yeah," Carly agreed. "He says then you have to make sure to shoot straight."

"You guys good here?" Fitz asked.

"Yeah, Dad," Jerry said.

Grabbing Olivia by the wrist, Fitz propelled her back into the foyer, out of sight and sound of the living room. Before Olivia could say anything, Fitz had interlaced his fingers behind her neck and seized her mouth. Olivia made a low sound in the back of her throat and arched into his chest, her hands coming up to cover his as they kissed.

"Mmmm," Fitz murmured, when he finally pulled away. "Needed that."

Olivia smiled.

"Now explain why Huck is teaching Carly how to kill people," Fitz said. "Even if it is virtual."

Olivia choked on a laugh.

"That's not exactly what it is," she said.

Fitz was plainly unconvinced.

"He created this game specifically for her," Olivia began. "It's not that violent but it helps with her spacial awareness and makes it so she can identify when something's not quite right. Given the line of work that I'm in and given who you are, Huck figured it would be a good thing for her to start developing those kinds of skills and I agreed with him."

Olivia leaned her head back against the wall and stared at him.

"Carly's fearless by nature," Olivia said. "And that can be good and it can be dangerous. Huck is helping her work out the difference."

"I'm going to need a while for that to stop messing with my head," Fitz admitted. "And oddly, it has less to do with the shooting people part than with…"

"Huck filling in the gaps," Olivia finished.

"Yeah," Fitz said.

"You know if you want to be all jealous," Olivia said lightly. "Huck's not who you should be worried about. Stephen's the one she has stars in her eyes for."

"That helps so much," Fitz said, dryly.

"I thought it might," Olivia said serenely.

She wrapped her arms around his waist.

"Hi," she said.

"Hi," Fitz said.

He dropped a kiss on her nose and then nibbled at her bottom lip.

"We've got to do better than just weekends," he said. "I thought I was going to lose my mind this week."

"Makes two of us," Olivia agreed. "But with Carly's routine set…"

"I'm overnighting in New York next week," Fitz said. "Meet me there?"

"Tempting," Olivia said.

"Say yes," Fitz said, licking his way down one side of her neck and back up the other.

"I'll think about it," Olivia said.

"Say," Fitz repeated, "_yes._"

He captured her earlobe gently between his teeth and Olivia's eyes slid shut.

"Maybe," Olivia said.

"_Livvy_," Fitz breathed, pinning her firmly against the wall, his hips pressed into the cradle of hers.

Olivia bit back a gasp and resisted the urge to curl her legs around his waist and just climb him.

"You win," Olivia whispered. "I'll try to arrange my schedule."

Fitz smiled against her mouth as he placed another kiss on her lips.

"Let's get your stuff upstairs," he said. "Carly's room is all set up for her. You can have a guest room if you want one, or my room can be our room."

"The kids going to be okay with that?" Olivia asked.

"I think Karen and Jerry are old enough to get it," Fitz said. "So unless you think it'll throw Carly…"

Olivia cocked her head to one side.

"Let's take tonight and see how it goes," she finally said. "Speaking of Karen…"

"She gets in late tonight," Fitz said. "Around 10:30, which is why I made our dinner reservations for the early evening."

"You made reservations?" Olivia asked.

"At Sel De La Terre," Fitz said. "Too much?"

Olivia shook her head and reached for one of the suitcases that was still lined up by the front door.

"Don't think we're not going to have that conversation," she told him.

"What conversation?" Fitz asked innocently, leading the way up the spiral staircase.

"The one about you trying to spoil Carly rotten," Olivia said. "And me right along with her."

"You deserve it," Fitz countered.

"Be that as it may," Olivia said. "There will be limits."

"What's the fun of money if you won't let me spend it?" Fitz asked, turning on the landing to face her. "I'm not 'a man of the people' anymore. I'm just yours."

"And I love you in spite of your wealth, not because of it," Olivia said.

"I know," Fitz said. "That's what makes spoiling you so much fun."

Olivia rolled her eyes.

"Like I said, we're going to have that conversation," she said.

"You mean that wasn't it?" Fitz asked.

"You wish, Fitzgerald," Olivia said. "You wish."

* * *

Fitz spotted the backpack underneath the foyer table as soon as he crossed the threshold with Carly half asleep in his arms. It was still relatively early – a glance at his watch confirmed 8:30 – but it had been a long day for the little girl in his arms. They'd spent the afternoon at the ice skating rink and then headed to dinner almost as soon as they got home.

"Karen?" he called.

"In the kitchen," Karen called back.

Jerry raced passed him in his sister's direction and Fitz and Olivia followed at a more sedate pace. Karen was standing behind the counter putting the finishing touches on a sandwich.

"Hey guys," she said.

"When did you get here?" Jerry asked.

"Just now," Karen said. "I took an earlier flight at the last minute."

"Why didn't you call?" Fitz asked.

Karen shrugged.

"It's not a big deal, Dad," she said.

Her eyes fixed on Carly, whose head was tucked into Fitz's shoulder.

"Karen, this is Carly," Fitz said softly. "Carly, this is Karen."

"Hi Carly," Karen said, her voice a mix of emotions.

"You're really pretty," Carly said, staring at Karen but not lifting her head from its spot against Fitz's neck.

"Thank you," Karen said with a small smile. "I think you're really pretty too."

Carly yawned and Olivia reached for her.

"It's good to see you, Karen," Olivia said.

"Hello, Olivia," Karen said.

"I'm going to go get this little miss changed for bed," Olivia said.

The fact that Carly only protested a little bit was a testament to how tired she actually was. When the two of them had disappeared towards the staircase, Fitz studied Karen more carefully. She was wearing tights tucked into her favorite Uggs and an oversized grey sweater. Her hair was pulled back – scraped back even – into a severe chignon at the nape of her neck and so far as Fitz could tell, she wasn't wearing the tiniest bit of makeup.

"You sure you're okay?" Fitz asked, walking towards her, gently touching her cheek. "You look kind of wrecked."

Karen shrugged, pulled away from his touch.

"You remember college," she said. "It's been intense. The double major is kind of kicking my ass."

"You declared?" Fitz asked.

"Not yet," Karen said. "But you wouldn't know it by my schedule."

"Did you get the tickets?" Jerry asked.

"You doubted me?" Karen said, rolling her eyes. "Of course I got tickets."

"Awesome," Jerry said with a little fist pump. "Dad, you have to come. Yale vs Harvard. It's going to be killer."

"I bet," Fitz said.

He looked over at Karen.

"At least sit down and eat," he said.

"I was going to watch TV actually," Karen said. "Jerry tivo'd last week's Game of Thrones for me."

"And Suits," Jerry said.

Deciding not to push when his daughter clearly wanted to avoid any kind of serious conversation, Fitz held his hands up.

"Have fun," he said. "I'll be upstairs if you need me. Jerry, you can show Karen where her room is."

"Yeah," Jerry said. "G'night, Dad."

"Night," Fitz said.

He made his way upstairs and found Olivia tip-toeing out of Carly's room.

"I thought she'd make it back downstairs at least for a little while but she's totally out," Olivia said. "Which means she'll be up at the literal crack of dawn but such is life."

She frowned.

"What's the matter?" she asked.

"Nothing much," Fitz said. "My daughter doesn't want to talk to me is all."

"Give her time, Fitz," Olivia said. "That can't have been easy for her. Seeing you with Carly for the first time."

"You're right," Fitz agreed. "That doesn't make me hate it less."

"What are she and Jerry up to now?" Olivia asked.

"Watching TV," Fitz sighed.

Olivia reached for his wrist and pulled him in the direction of the master bedroom. Once they were inside with the door firmly closed, Olivia presented him with her back.

"Unzip me," she said.

Fitz complied, his knuckles brushing against the skin of her back as the fabric of her dress loosened and slid off to pool around her feet. Olivia turned to face him clad in a black and pink lace thong and a matching demi cup bra. She stepped closer to him, braced her hands on both of his shoulders and slicked her tongue over his bottom lip. She looked him in the eyes and didn't even bother trying to mask her intent.

"Take off your clothes," she commanded.

Fitz kept his eyes locked on hers as he pulled his sweater off over his head and took his time unbuttoning the shirt he had on underneath. Olivia made an appreciative sound when his bare chest came into view. Her gaze was riveted on his hands as they moved to his belt and he unfastened it. Mere seconds later, he was standing in front of her completely naked and Olivia felt her mouth run dry.

Stepping closer still, she pressed her hand to the middle of his chest and pushed, just hard enough to get him to sit down on the bed and then she sank to her knees between his legs. She heard him murmur her name but she was focused on her objective - the impressive erection that was straining towards her, clearly eager for her attention.

Placing her hands on his muscular thighs, Olivia took a deep breath, then bent her head and took him into her mouth; took _all_ of him into her mouth. Her lips were wrapped around the base of his shaft and she could feel him sliding down the back of her throat. His hands tangled into her hair but he didn't put any pressure on her or try to control her movements.

"_Christ_," Fitz groaned as he felt her tongue swirl around him as she eased back a little bit. Her mouth was so hot and wet and she was using it to maximum effect. He could feel release gathering inside him and he could tell by the determined look in Olivia's eyes as she continued to slide her lips up and down the length of his cock that she wanted him to come in her mouth.

He'd indulge her but some other time. He pulled her up and tumbled her underneath him on the bed. Then he slammed his mouth down on hers before she had a chance to protest. Pushing her knees apart, he settled between her thighs. His fingers slipped underneath her panties, testing her slick heat. His other hand flicked open the front clasp on her bra and Olivia shrugged out of it and cried out when his mouth closed around one turgid nipple.

"Fitz," Olivia moaned.

"Tell me what you want," Fitz said huskily, circling her other nipple with the tip of his tongue. "You want this?"

He curled his finger inside her, stroking that hidden sweet spot and earning a sharp gasp and several tremors from the woman writhing underneath him.

"Or do you want this?" he asked, pulling his fingers out of her sheath, ripping her underwear off and rubbing the head of his penis against her clit.

"_Yes_," Olivia whimpered.

Realizing that his own willpower was about as frayed as Olivia's, Fitz stopped teasing and buried himself deep inside her with one thrust of his hips. Olivia arched so violently that her whole back came up off the bed and she was practically bent back on her head.

Wrapping his arms around the small of her back, Fitz rolled them over so that Olivia was on top.

"Ride me, sweet baby," he coaxed.

Olivia took him at his word and rode him hard and fast until she exploded all over him and drained every last drop of him dry. Several minutes passed before either one of them could form a coherent thought, let alone speak, and even then it was only whispered words of love and satisfaction.

But it was everything_. _


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: I know some of you are getting a bit frustrated with Karen. I'm curious to see how or if this chapter changes any of that. I have to say the first part of this is one of my favorite things to have happened in this story. I'm actually getting more and more terrified that Shonda's characterization of the kids on the show is going to be so different from my head canon. I don't think I could stand it if Karen or Jerry turn out to be insufferable brats lmao.**

**Anyway, enjoy! Reviews are always, always love :-)**

* * *

Olivia padded into the kitchen around 1 am, switched on the light and paused when she realized that she wasn't alone. Karen was sitting at the kitchen table by herself, staring into space.

"Karen?" Olivia asked, her search for a bottle of wine and something salty momentarily forgotten. "Why are you sitting in the dark?"

Karen turned to look at her and Olivia felt her gut lurch into action and the hair on the back of her neck stand up. She walked closer, hesitated a split second and then sat down opposite the young woman in front of her.

"I know that all of this is awkward," Olivia began slowly. "But if there's something wrong that has nothing to do with the situation with me and your father then you can…"

"What?" Karen asked sardonically. "Talk to you?"

"You could," Olivia agreed. "Or you could talk to your dad."

Karen let out a quiet snort.

"If something is seriously wrong," Olivia said. "Then you should talk to _someone_."

She studied the teenager's face.

"If something happened to you…" she said.

Karen flinched; it was a tiny, miniscule, purely involuntarily movement but Olivia caught it and her stomach started to sink.

"Karen, did someone do something to you?" she asked. "Did someone hurt you?"

Karen turned to face her fully.

"What changed a month ago?" she asked, ignoring Olivia's questions. "Or however long it was that you called my dad and decided that the way things had been the last six years suddenly wasn't okay anymore? Why did you call? What did you think was going to happen?"

"That's a lot of questions," Olivia said.

"Do you have any answers?" Karen threw back. "Any at all?"

"My husband decided to file for divorce," Olivia said. "Apparently he was tired of being married to someone who didn't love him. Why it bothered him more that day than any of the days in the six years before that, I couldn't tell you."

"Great," Karen said. "You didn't even have the guts to end it yourself? If your husband hadn't wanted out, you and Dad would be exactly where you've been all this time?"

It was Olivia's turn to flinch. She'd been getting close to her breaking point – seeing Fitz that night at Lincoln had pushed her to it – but there was no telling how long she'd have stayed in her marriage to Edison if he hadn't drawn a line in the sand.

"I've never been as brave or as strong as people give me credit for," Olivia said quietly. "If I was, I would have stayed away from your father in the first place, would have let him fire me that first day on the campaign and never thought twice about it."

"He fired you?" Karen asked.

"Practically the minute he saw me," Olivia said. "He knew. We both knew that what we felt would get the better of us. We tried to pretend that we could fight it but we couldn't."

"You didn't," Karen said. "There's a difference."

"You're right, there is," Olivia said. "We made choices. Some of them were wrong and others were…less clear cut."

"And the choice to let your daughter think another man is her father," Karen said. "Was that…clear cut?"

"It was the most agonizing thing I've ever done," Olivia said honestly. "It eats at me every single day but at the time, I didn't see another option."

"Dad says he would have left my mother for you," Karen said. "If it had only been up to him."

"He certainly would have tried," Olivia agreed.

"Did you stop him?" Karen asked.

"With help from your mother and Cyrus," Olivia said. "Yes."

"Well I know why they would do it," Karen said. "But why did you? Didn't you want to be with him?"

"Of course I did," Olivia said. "But at the time we're talking about…if he'd divorced your mother, it would have ruined his presidency and he had so much left to give the country that I didn't want to see that happen."

"Did you ask him?" Karen asked.

Olivia arched an eyebrow.

"About whether he wanted to give more to the country or whether he wanted to be with you?" Karen asked. "Or did you just decide?"

Olivia opened her mouth but no words came out.

"He must really love you," Karen said.

"Because he was willing to give up the White House?" Olivia asked.

"No," Karen said. "Because he forgave you for doing what Mom always tried to do; think for him as if he's not capable of thinking for himself."

Olivia absorbed that.

"Are you sure you're not pre-law?" she finally asked. "You give good cross."

Karen's lips curled upwards and she sighed.

"I don't want to be mad at you," she said. "I don't want to hate you. I actually remember really liking you."

"I remember really liking you too," Olivia said.

"Your office was my favorite place in the White House," Karen revealed. "I think it's because I came to you for help with my homework once and my dad came in and when he saw us, he smiled like I've never seen him smile before, like he was looking at his version of a perfect world."

She shook her head.

"I meant what I said before," Karen said. "Carly is really, really beautiful."

"Thank you," Olivia said.

"And she might not know the truth," Karen continued. "But from what I saw tonight, she feels safe with Dad and that…"

She sucked in an unsteady breath.

"That's a good thing," she rasped. "Little girls _should_ feel safe with their dads. It's how I used to feel but I don't anymore and…"

Olivia reached for Karen's hand, relieved when she didn't pull away.

"Your dad loves you," she said firmly.

"I _know_ that," Karen said. "That's not the problem. It's…through all the craziness – campaigns, presidencies, everything with mom – I never questioned _who_ he was. He was my Dad and I _knew_ him but it doesn't feel like that anymore. It feels like I only knew half a person and that most of what I knew wasn't even real."

Olivia was quiet for a minute.

"I'm truly sorry, Karen," she finally said. "I know my actions are a part of the reason you feel that way and I am honestly, truly sorry."

"I believe you," Karen said.

"Doesn't fix anything though, does it?" Olivia asked.

"Not really, no," Karen agreed.

They sat in silence, Karen staring down at her fingernails for a several minutes. Finally, she looked up and across at Olivia.

"If I tell you something do you swear that you won't tell my Dad?" Karen asked.

Olivia nodded.

"Whatever you say to me in confidence, stays there," Olivia said.

"I'm a nerd," Karen said. "I like school, I like to study and I'm good at it. It's how come I graduated high school a year in advance and got accepted to four Ivies, early decision, each one."

Sensing that Karen was working her way up to something, Olivia didn't comment.

"Last weekend my roommate convinced me to go to a frat party with her," Karen said. "I never do stuff like that but I was tired of feeling the way I was feeling and I was tired of thinking so I went. And I didn't tell Jessica."

"Jessica?" Olivia questioned.

"My Secret Service agent," Karen said.

Olivia's eyes widened slightly.

"The party wasn't even that crazy," Karen said. "This guy, Luke, from my Intro to Psych class was there. He's cute, a little cocky, you know the type."

"Unfortunately, I think I do," Olivia said.

"It never even occurred to me to think that he could hurt me," Karen said, pulling her knees up to her chest. "I thought it was fine to trust him and I keep asking myself why I thought that but…"

"Being suspicious of everyone you meet isn't the healthiest way to go through life," Olivia said. "But…"

"He didn't rape me," Karen interrupted.

"Okay," Olivia said slowly.

"But he would have," Karen choked out. "He roofied my drink. I hardly remember what happened, just that I felt so out of it, so disconnected from my own head and my own body. And then Jessica was there. I think she tracked me through my phone."

Olivia bit back a sigh of relief. What Karen had suffered was traumatic enough but it could have been so much worse. Olivia couldn't help being glad that it wasn't.

"And even though I don't remember everything," Karen said. "I remember enough and I can't stop thinking about it. I can't stop…"

Olivia pushed out of her chair and went over to Karen. She wrapped the child – because at the end of the day, Karen was still _so young – _in her arms and pressed her head into her chest. "You are _safe_ here," Olivia said firmly. "With your father, with your brother, with me, even with Carly. This is _not_ someplace where you need to feel afraid. I promise you that."

She stroked her fingers through Karen's hair.

"That boy will be dealt with," Olivia continued.

"I don't want anyone to know," Karen mumbled.

"_You'll _know," Olivia said. "And that'll be enough."

That must have been what Karen needed to hear because all the walls came down and hard, painful sobs erupted from her small frame. Olivia simply held on to her and let her cry for as long as she needed to.

At one point, Olivia looked up and saw Fitz in the doorway, looking equal parts worried and terrified. Olivia shook her head at him, a warning not to intrude. His frown deepened but he gave her a jerky nod and disappeared back upstairs. Olivia knew how hard that had to have been for him and she knew that they would have to have one hell of a conversation when she joined him back in their bedroom.

For the time being though, she was just grateful that he trusted her with his daughter. Eventually, Karen sat up and wiped her eyes with the back of her hands.

"I think I'm going up to bed," she said. "We don't have to talk about this again."

"We don't have to," Olivia agreed. "But if you want to or need to or if you want to find a professional…just tell me."

"And you won't tell my dad?" Karen asked.

"Not if you don't want me to," Olivia said carefully. "But I think you should tell him. I heard what you said earlier about feeling like you're not sure who he is anymore."

"But?" Karen asked.

"But you're still his little girl and he'll take on the world for you no matter what," Olivia said. "You just have to be willing to tell him when you need him to."

"I'll think about it," Karen said. "Good night, Olivia."

"Good night," Olivia said.

She waited until well after Karen had gone before getting up and making her own way upstairs. She wasn't surprised to find Fitz pacing the length of the room and he pinned her to the wall with his eyes the second she opened the door.

"What was that?" he demanded.

"I can't tell you," Olivia said, shutting the door behind her.

Fitz stared at her in disbelief.

"Are you kidding right now?" he asked. "Karen was crying like the world was over and all you have to say is 'you can't tell me'? Unacceptable, Liv."

"I'm sorry," Olivia said. "But I promised her I wouldn't say anything to you. When she's ready, she'll tell you herself."

"That's not good enough," Fitz said. "We're talking about my baby girl, Olivia and something is very clearly wrong with her. You can't expect me to sit back and pretend like I don't see that."

"I don't expect you to pretend anything," Olivia said, crossing the room and looking up at him, her hand pressing into his cheek. "I'm _asking_ you to trust me with this."

"Walking away downstairs was one thing," Fitz said shaking his head. "You're asking for something a lot different right now."

"I know," Olivia said. "But Fitz, look. If this is going to work then I need to have relationships with Karen and Jerry that have nothing to do with you. They have to know that they can trust me and believe me, I'd rather build this trust with Karen under any other circumstances but…"

"What circumstances?" Fitz burst out in frustration. "Damn it, Olivia."

"Look at me," Olivia said.

She framed his face with both her hands and forced him to meet her eyes.

"I need you to understand that when I say we're in this together, I don't just mean you, me and Carly," Olivia said. "Karen and Jerry are a part of you and that makes them a part of me too. I will do _everything_ I can to help Karen get through what she's going through, the same way as I would if it was Carly in her shoes. Can you let me do that?"

Fitz stared down at her and Olivia could see the turmoil raging in his eyes. Considering Mellie's general disinterest in her children, Fitz wasn't used to this. He wasn't used to having someone else to lean on when it came to his kids. He wasn't used to his kids having someone else to lean on either.

"I can try," he finally said.

Olivia touched her mouth to his in a short kiss.

"Thank you," she said.

"Don't thank me," Fitz said. "I said I'd try. I didn't say I'd succeed."

* * *

Fitz had a hard time falling asleep until eventually Olivia slid her arms around him and tossed one of her legs over both of his. He calmed enough to doze for several hours but by 6:30, he was wide awake. Gently disengaging from Olivia, he swung his legs out of bed and after a pit stop in the bathroom he made his way downstairs to the kitchen.

To his surprise, he wasn't the only one awake. Carly was sitting on her heels on the counter, watching Karen mix ingredients into a silver bowl.

"'Ren is making pancakes," Carly announced when she spotted him.

"Chocolate chip pancakes," Karen added.

"Sounds delicious," Fitz said, trying not to let his emotions get the better of his voice.

Part of him was still worried about Karen. She didn't appear to have slept too much more than he had. Mostly though, he was trying to process the sight of his daughters together – really together – for the first time. Both of them looked much more like their respective mothers than they did him but there was still something that seemed to mark them as sisters. Maybe it was the way their heads were tilted together or the encouraging smile on Karen's face as she helped Carly mix chocolate chips into the pancake batter. Maybe it was the little bit of awe in Carly's expression when she looked to Karen for approval and got it.

In that moment, Fitz felt a profound sense of gratitude and a great deal of pride in his eldest child. However she felt about him and Olivia, she wasn't taking it out on Carly. Jerry was the one who nicknamed her 'Ren when he was a little younger than Carly was now. The fact that Karen had given the nickname to Carly to use told him everything he needed to know.

"Dad, you okay?" Karen asked, breaking into his thoughts.

"I'm fine," Fitz said, his voice a bit rough. "Need caffeine I guess."

"The machine's on automatic so there should be a full pot any minute," Karen said.

Fitz nodded and moved towards the fridge.

"Can't have pancakes without bacon," he said, pulling a package off the shelf. "Pan fried or baked?"

"Baked," Karen said.

She turned to Carly.

"You ready for the super secret ingredient to these pancakes?" she asked.

"Yeah!" Carly said.

Karen produced a bag of white chocolate chips.

"_More_ chocolate," Karen said.

Carly's eyes were round as saucers.

"No way!" she breathed.

"Cool, right?" Karen asked.

"My mommy says if I eat too much chocolate my teeth will fall out," Carly said.

She wiggled her loose tooth for effect.

"But they're falling out anyway!" she giggled.

"You think you're so clever, huh," Fitz said, giving her ponytail a quick tug as he crossed over to the oven. "You girls give any thought to what you want to do today?"

"I wanna watch cartoons," Carly said decisively.

"What cartoons do you like?" Karen asked.

"Spongebob and Scooby are my favorites," Carly said.

"Cartoons all day?" Fitz inquired. "You don't want to go to the park or a museum or…"

Carly shrugged.

"My daddy took me to a museum one time," she said. "It was booooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrin g."

For a second Fitz felt frozen, as if someone had doused him in cold water and left him out in the snow. He didn't know why Carly mentioning her "daddy" came as such a shock to him. He knew she didn't know the truth and that for the entire length of her existence that label had been attached to a man that wasn't him.

But it was the first time he'd heard her mention Edison directly and it wrecked him more than he thought was possible.

"Dad?" Karen asked gently.

"Cartoons it is," Fitz said, forcing himself to smile. "Why don't we go see what's on?'

He offered Carly his hand but she ignored it in favor of leaping off the counter in his direction. Moving quickly, Fitz caught her and immediately her little arms wound themselves around his neck.

"You catched me!" she said, delightedly.

"I'll always catch you, sweet girl," Fitz said, giving into the impulse to drop a kiss on the top of her head. "Always."


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: I'm sorry it's taken me so long to update. Work has been nuts and I have been traveling. Thank you all for your patience and the reviews you've left, letting me know that this story hasn't been forgotten. i really appreciate it. Enjoy!**

* * *

"Are you mad?" Karen asked, eyeing her father warily.

They were sitting on the couch in his office and she'd just told him about the party and the assault.

Fitz bit back a sigh and shook his head.

"No, baby, of course I'm not mad at you," he said. "I'm…"

"Disappointed?" Karen offered.

"Scared," Fitz substituted. "I'm scared because I can't protect you from everything and everyone that can hurt you and I'm scared because you took risks that you wouldn't have taken if you weren't feeling so off kilter about everything with me and Olivia."

Karen tucked her knees into her chest and wrapped her arms around them. It was becoming her go to position, her way of trying to keep herself and the world around her under control. And that, she realized was a part of the problem.

"I think a part of me was trying to test you," Karen admitted, her eyes fixed on the floor. "I think I wanted to see what you'd do if…if something happened. I wanted you to feel all the things I was feeling but I didn't want this."

She shook her head and tears started to roll down her cheeks. Fitz scooted across the couch and wrapped his arms around her, not caring that she tried to pull away at first. He tightened his arms around her until she curled into him and clutched at his shirt.

"I told Olivia that ever since I found out about you guys and about Carly, I felt like I didn't know who you were anymore," Karen said, not looking at him. "But I think the truth is I feel like I don't know _me_ anymore."

"Sweetheart," Fitz began.

"Do you remember at Thanksgiving," Karen interrupted. "I told you I wanted you to be happy and I meant it. I really did."

"I know," Fitz said.

"That's why I don't understand why this is so hard," Karen confessed. "I don't like what it says about me that this is so hard."

"The way that we feel or react to things isn't always rational," Fitz said, stroking her hair. "Over the years, you've taken a lot of things in stride. No matter how big the change, you learned to adjust. You helped your brother adjust and your mother and I appreciated that, a little too much I think. Not everything in life can be taken in stride. Sometimes, you need time and it's messy and it's hard."

He tilted her chin up so she was forced to look at him.

"The fact that you're struggling with this doesn't make you a bad person," Fitz said. "And I know it doesn't mean that you don't love me or want me to happy."

"Dad, I think I need help," Karen said.

"Help?" Fitz repeated. "Like a therapist?"

Karen nodded.

"Unless you think it's a bad idea," she said. "I know it could be awkward with Mom and with…"

"If you think it will be good for you," Fitz said. "That's all that matters. We'll find someone and you can give it a try; see how you feel about it. If your mother becomes an issue, I'll handle it."

"Thanks," Karen said.

"Hey," Fitz said. "You know it doesn't matter what happens. I'm always going to be here for you."

"I know," Karen said with a shaky smile.

"Hey, Dad," Jerry said bursting into the room.

"Jeez, Jer, knock much?" Karen asked, wiping her eyes.

Jerry frowned.

"Why are you crying?" he demanded.

"None of your business," Karen retorted.

"Are you okay?" Jerry insisted.

"I'm fine," Karen said. "Just having a moment."

"Did you need something, buddy?" Fitz asked.

"Yeah, I wanted to know is it okay if Rachel comes over later," Jerry said. "We have a lab report to finish."

"Sure," Fitz said. "Usual rules apply."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Jerry said, disappearing down the hall.

"She must be really cute," Karen said. "If Jerry wants to do homework on a Sunday."

Fitz smiled.

"You good?" he asked.

"Yeah," Karen said. "Do you mind if I stay a few extra days? I don't have classes tomorrow and only a couple on Tuesday and Wednesday. I'm pretty much ahead in everything so…"

"I don't mind at all," Fitz said. "I have to overnight in New York on Tuesday but I'll be back first thing on Wednesday."

"What's in New York?" Karen asked.

"I'm going to be doing some work with the U.N. starting next fall," Fitz said. "This is just a quick trip to start putting things in place."

"Some work," Karen repeated. "That was deliberately vague. Is it going to be a Special Ambassador type thing?"

"Something like it," Fitz said. "We're working out the specifics now."

"You going to move to New York?" Karen asked.

"Probably," Fitz said. "But like I said, not until the fall."

"What about Olivia and Carly?" Karen asked.

"They'll move to New York eventually too," Fitz said. "We're still taking things pretty slow."

Karen thought about that.

"Carly's a great kid," she said.

"She is," Fitz said. "It means a lot to me, how good you and Jerry have been to her this weekend."

"I don't want to be the reason this doesn't work for you," Karen said. "I really don't."

Fitz pressed a kiss to her forehead and gave her a quick hug. She returned the embrace and then excused herself to spend some time in the gym, on the treadmill. Fitz stayed in his office, wanting a few minutes to process everything and that was where Olivia found him.

"How are you?" she asked and Fitz knew the question wasn't casual.

"How does any father feel after finding out that his daughter was attacked by some hormonal teenage jackass?" Fitz said. "I feel murderous and helpless and scared, terrified actually."

He turned took look at her.

"Even if this had happened in isolation," Fitz said. "Even if Karen hadn't been feeling as emotionally unstable as she's been feeling, this kind of thing leaves scars, Liv. It could impact everything she does, every choice she makes about who to trust, who not to trust, the kinds of relationships she gets into…"

"Karen is a strong young woman," Olivia said. "She doesn't strike me as the type to let one experience, however bad it was, rule her life."

Fitz pinched the bridge of his nose.

"She asked for help," he said. "The professional kind."

"So we'll get help for her," Olivia said, walking towards him. "And we'll support her. And be there _every step of the way._"

Fitz settled his hands on her hips as soon as she was in reach, his fingers toying with the belt loops of her jeans. He rested his forehead against hers.

"I want that boy to pay an _extremely_ steep price for what he did to her," Fitz said.

"Abby's already on it," Olivia replied. "We'll know everything about him by tomorrow morning at the latest."

Olivia paused.

"I think it's important to consult Karen before any decisions get made," she said. "I understand your anger but she's the one who has to live with this."

Fitz gave a jerky nod.

"I don't know how I made it through the last six years without you," he murmured.

"I'm sure having a country to run helped," Olivia said.

"A country to run and a _lot_ of Scotch in the Oval," Fitz said.

Olivia pulled back and frowned at him, something in his voice tipping her off to the fact that he wasn't being a smart ass.

"Fitz?" she asked.

His expression twisted into something self-deprecating.

"It wasn't pretty for a while there," he admitted.

"How long is a while?' Olivia asked.

"I recall very few completely sober moments in the 18 months after you left," Fitz said. "And a lot of completely inebriated ones. I kept waiting for Cyrus to cancel my schedule and force me into an AA meeting but he didn't."

"What did he do instead?" Olivia asked.

"You know Cyrus," Fitz said. "Emotional blackmail is what he does best. He came into my office, told me that you'd be disappointed, disgusted and ashamed if you could see the state I was in and that unless I wanted to be the alcoholic laughing stock of a president that Carly learned about in high school, I needed to get my shit together."

"Sounds like Cy," Olivia said. "For the record, I wouldn't have felt any of those things."

"No," Fitz agreed. "You'd have felt responsible because you always took my feelings onto your shoulders. You'd have felt apprehensive because you know I'm not a nice drunk. You'd have fixed me or tried to and then you would have left me again, negating the whole point."

Olivia stared at him.

"Swimming," she finally said.

"Swimming?" Fitz repeated.

"After Carly was born I took up swimming again," Olivia said. "Every morning, every night, I'd swim laps upon laps upon laps until my legs were weak and I could barely breathe. That's how I numbed myself to..."

"The emptiness," Fitz finished for her.

"Yes," Olivia said.

"But we made it here," Fitz said, pulling her closer.

"No more swimming," Olivia said.

"And no more scotch," Fitz said.

* * *

Carly stuck her head under Jerry's arm so she could peer up at whatever was on the table in front of him.

"Whatcha doin?" she wanted to know.

"Organic chemistry," Jerry replied.

"Huh?" Carly asked.

"Yeah, that's pretty much how I feel," Jerry agreed. "It's homework."

"Is it hard?" Carly asked. "I don't have homework at kindergarten but Mommy says I will next year."

"Enjoy life without homework while you still can," Jerry advised. "It's all downhill from there."

Carly frowned.

"I won't do it," she decided. "Grandpa says you shouldn't do things if you don't believe in them. I don't believe in homework."

A girly giggle floated over the table.

"Jerry, she's _adorable," _Rachel said.

Carly looked over the table, noticing the older girl for the first time.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"My name is Rachel," Rachel replied. "What's your name?"

"Carly," Carly answered. "Is Jerry your boyfriend?"

Jerry sputtered.

"Seriously, _kid_," he said.

Rachel giggled.

"He's a boy and he's my friend, so I guess so," she said.

"My boyfriend brings me candy," Carly said. "What does Jerry bring you?"

"Okay, this conversation right here," Jerry said. "It needs to end."

"Why?" Carly asked.

"Because I said," Jerry said.

Carly shook her head.

"That's what Mommy says when she doesn't have a real reason," Carly informed him.

"How old are you Carly?" Rachel asked.

"Five," Carly said.

"Oh wow," Rachel said.

"Why don't you go bug Karen?" Jerry suggested.

"'Ren is running on the moving carpet," Carly said. "Can we play video games?"

"Uh, Rachel and I have to finish this," Jerry said. "But maybe later, okay?"

Carly sighed heavily just as Olivia came into the room.

"Is little miss getting in your way?" she asked Jerry and Rachel.

"Not at all, Ms. Pope," Rachel said. "She's precious."

"Dangerous," Jerry muttered.

Olivia smiled. One of the best things about this weekend had been seeing Carly interact with Jerry and Karen as if she always had, as if they'd always been a part of her life.

"Come on, pumpkin," Olivia said. "Let's go make sure you have all your stuff together for when we have to leave."

Carly's mouth turned down into a moue but she followed Olivia upstairs and into her room.

"Mommy?"

"Yeah, baby?" Olivia asked, watching Carly climb up onto the bed and reach for the stuffed koala - one of _many_ toys that had been in gift basket, waiting for Carly to rip into, when they'd gotten here on Saturday – on her pillow

"Why do we have to go home?" Carly asked.

"You mean today or in general?" Olivia asked.

"Today," Carly said.

"Well, you have school tomorrow," Olivia pointed out. "And I have to go to work."

Carly sighed.

"But I like it here," she said.

"I like it here too," Olivia said. "I'm sure we'll come back again."

"When?" Carly asked.

"Soon," Olivia said.

"When soon?" Carly asked.

Olivia paused and set down the shoes she'd been about to put into Carly's suitcase. She sat down on the bed and studied her child a little more carefully.

"Is this is about Boston or are you just having fun hanging out with Karen and Jerry and Fitz?" Olivia asked gently.

"I like them," Carly said, shrugging her tiny shoulders.

"They like you too," Olivia said, with a smile.

"Does that mean we can stay?" Carly asked hopefully.

"Unfortunately no," Olivia said. "Besides, Karen and Jerry both have school too. And it's your grandmother's birthday this week. Don't you want to be there when she gets her presents?"

"I guess," Carly said.

She didn't sound especially enthused, which Olivia decided to chalk up to the fact that while she'd always had a grandmother, Karen, Jerry and Fitz were all novelties to her.

"What's with the sad face?" Fitz asked, walking into the room.

"We gots to go home," Carly said sadly.

"I've been trying not to think about that," Fitz said. "I'm gonna miss you guys."

Carly brightened.

"You could come with us," she suggested.

"I wish I could," Fitz said. "But not this time."

"Why does everyone keep sayin' that?" Carly demanded, plainly irritated.

Fitz sat down on Carly's other side.

"It's what grown ups say when we don't want to have to explain a complicated situation," Fitz said with a small smile.

"Why's it compicated?" Carly asked.

"Do you know what a commitment is?" Fitz asked.

Carly shook her head no.

"It's kind of like a promise," Fitz said. "You say you're going to do something, or you're responsible for something and it's important to keep that promise. Your Mom has commitments in Washington and I have some here so it means even thought we _want_ to spend more time, all of us together, we have to wait for a while."

"But time is going to fly by," Olivia said. "We'll get a chance to hang out some more before you know it."

"Promise?" Carly asked.

Olivia laughed.

"Yeah, I promise," she said.

"You too?" Carly asked Fitz.

"Me too," he agreed.

Seemingly satisfied, Carly changed the subject.

"Do you wanna read a story with me?" she asked Fitz.

"I would love to read a story with you," he said. "Actually you know what, I would love it if you read a story to me because I hear that you are an _excellent_ reader."

"Who told you that?" Carly wanted to know, half suspicious, half pleased.

"Oh, I have sources," Fitz said, winking at Olivia.

Carly spun around to face her mother with an accusing stare.

"I didn't say a word," Olivia denied, but she was smiling.

"What story do you want to read?" Fitz asked, drawing Carly's attention back to him.

They picked a book and then Fitz stretched out on the bed with Carly leaning back against his chest. It was so natural and easy, and because she still wasn't immune to emotional punch that seeing them together packed Olivia occupied herself by getting the rest of Carly's things together.

When she was finished, Olivia sat down on the corner of the bed. Fitz glanced up briefly and Olivia smiled at him, even thought her thoughts were starting to get all tangled. This, moments like this, were exactly what she wanted, what she'd always wanted. Fitz and Carly had a lot of lost time to make up for and it was obvious to Olivia that Carly was already getting attached. A few more weekends like this one and she'd be as head over heels for her father as he already was for her. Which was a good thing. It was a _fantastic_, beautiful thing but it was also a hard thing.

Realistically speaking, they were still months away from being able to swing more than weekends and even that wasn't guaranteed. She couldn't come to Boston every weekend and Fitz couldn't come to Washington every weekend. If Carly was this reluctant to leave now what would it be like in another week or two weeks or three?

"Your mommy is looking super serious," Fitz faux whispered to Carly. "There's only one thing to do."

"What?" Carly whispered back.

"Tickle her," Fitz said.

Carly giggled and launched herself at Olivia to do exactly that. Olivia made a show of trying to avoid the attack and then she turned the tables, ticking Carly until the little girl was shrieking for mercy. She finally stopped squirming and lay with her feet in her father's lap and her head in her mother's.

Fitz and Olivia shared a look.

"I love you," he mouthed silently.

"I love you too," she mouthed back.

The moment was shattered by the sound of Olivia's phone ringing.

"Hey Abby," Olivia said.

"We have…an unforeseen circumstance on the Karen front," Abby said.

"Explain," Olivia instructed.

"The boy, his name is Luke McDaniels," Abby said.

"McDaniels like the Senator from Missouri?" Olivia asked.

"His second son," Abby confirmed. "This is bad, right?"

Olivia glanced at Fitz out of the corner of her eye.

"You have no idea," she said to Abby. "No idea at all."


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: I know y'all have been waiting a long time for this and I appreciate your patience. Work has been beyond nuts. I was out of the country for a couple weeks and pretty much averaging three to four hours of sleep. This past weekend was the first I got to really rest all month so I needed the time to get my wits back about me. But don't worry, I am planning on finishing this story. In fact, I think I might break it up into a sequel. I just need to work all the details out in my mind.**

**So thanks again for your patience. This chapter is quite a bit longer than usual. Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

"What's going on?" Karen asked warily, walking into Fitz's office.

Her father was leaning against his desk, looking like he wanted to strangle someone and Olivia was sitting on the couch.

"Jerry said you guys wanted to talk," Karen said.

Olivia nodded and patted the couch next to her.

"We need to talk about Luke," she said gently.

Karen's expression closed and she wrapped her arms around herself as she sat down.

"What about him?" she asked tightly.

"I had one of my people look into him," Olivia said. "But I think the decision to take it further - or not - needs to be yours."

Karen was silent for several minutes and neither Fitz nor Olivia did anything to rush her.

"I don't know what the right thing is," she finally said softly. "I talked to Francesca and she said that he's been running his mouth, saying things... lies obviously but who's really going to care?"

She shook her head.

"We can make them care," Olivia said. "We can set the record straight but only if it's what you want."

"Part of me wants to," Karen said. "But part of me wants to forget that it ever happened. I keep telling myself that in a few days or weeks people will move onto the next scandal but..."

She turned to Fitz.

"Dad?" she asked.

"If it was up to me, I'd bury him," Fitz said honestly. "But Olivia is right."

He walked across the room and crouched down in front of Karen.

"This happened to you and I wish like hell that it hadn't," Fitz said, taking her hand in his. "I wish I could erase it but I can't. And I can't tell you what to feel. But whatever you want, whatever you decide, I'm going to be right behind you. Olivia and I both will."

Karen sucked in a breath.

"Can I decide after you tell me what you found?" she asked Olivia.

"Of course," Olivia said.

She paused.

"The first thing you should know is that his father is a Senator," Olivia said. "And that there's bad blood between him and your father."

"We had some bitter disagreements," Fitz said. "And he never passed up an opportunity to be a thorn in my side."

"Does that matter here?" Karen asked.

"It could come into play down the line," Olivia said. " For now, it simply explains why Luke's…history isn't common knowledge."

"History?" Karen repeated. "Are you saying he's done something like this before?"

"Twice that we've been able to determine," Olivia said. "Both times it went...further than what happened with you."

"You mean he raped them," Karen rasped.

"Yes," Olivia said.

"Who were they?" Karen asked.

"The first girl was the daughter of a neighbor's housekeeper at their summer house in Florida," Olivia said. "The second was a girlfriend during his junior year of high school."

"What happened?" Karen wanted to know. "After."

"The housekeeper was paid not to press charges on her daughter's behalf," Olivia said. "The girlfriend was discredited to the point of switching schools."

"God," Karen said, standing up and starting to pace.

She turned eyes full of turmoil on Fitz and Olivia.

"If Dad hadn't been president," she said. "If I didn't have a secret service agent who was smart enough to realize that I was stupid enough to ditch her then...

"Sweetheart," Fitz started.

"No," Karen said, furiously wiping her eyes. "As awful as I've been feeling since this happened, I got _lucky_. And I've got people on my side who are ready to go to bat for me. What did those girls have?"

Olivia saw the exact moment that it happened; Karen went from feeling like victim who wanted to hide from what had happened to her, to a warrior ready to ready to own it and fight back.

"Bury him," Karen said firmly.

"You told me before that you didn't want anyone to know," Olivia said. "If we do this, that might not be possible. Are you ready for that?"

"Ready probably isn't the right word," Karen said. "But I'll handle it if I have to. What he did to those girls, to me…he can't be allowed to get away with that. Not anymore."

"Okay," Olivia said. "That brings us to the next question. We can take him down publically or we can do it behind the scenes."

Karen bit her lip.

"This is what you do, right?" she asked Olivia. "You fix things, handle situations."

"That's right," Olivia said.

"If I were a client what you tell me to do?" Karen asked.

"I wouldn't make the decision for you," Olivia said. "I'd tell you that both options have pros and cons and that it all depends on what you really want. If you need the world to know the truth, then you have to make it public. If what you need is peace of mind, then making sure he pays, whether the world knows or not, is enough."

"It would probably be easier," Karen finally said. "If we did this behind the scenes. It would be neater, go away faster."

She sat down on the edge of the couch again and looked over at Fitz.

"You've always said that our systems and institutions, the faith we have in them, are what set us apart," Karen said. "What Luke did was wrong and he needs to face consequences but what those consequences are isn't my decision. So we do this right; file charges and let the system do its job."

Fitz nodded slowly, his emotions too tangled for him to speak. Lucky for him, Olivia had a tighter reign on her thoughts; whatever she was thinking or feeling, it wasn't reflected on her face or in her voice.

"Do you want me to have Harrison handle it or would you rather use your father's lawyer?" Olivia asked.

"Use Harrison," Fitz interjected. "If anything unexpected comes up, he knows how the rest of your team works."

"That's fine with me," Karen said.

"Okay," Olivia said.

She stood up, flipping her phone open as she moved to the door.

"Olivia?" Karen said.

Olivia paused to look at her.

"Thank you," Karen said. "You've gone above and beyond."

Olivia gave a tiny shake of her head.

"You don't need to thank me," she said. "I understand that you might not feel the same way now, or ever for that matter, but so far as I'm concerned, we're family. I've got your back and that won't change."

Karen gave her a small smile, which Olivia returned before slipping out.

"I'm starting to get it," Karen said to her father, when they were alone.

"Get what exactly?" he asked.

"You and Olivia," Karen said. "You guys are like this unit that just clicks. I mean, this whole conversation we just had? That would never have happened with you and Mom."

"Is it a good or bad thing?" Fitz asked.

"It's different," Karen said. "I'm not used to feeling co-parented. Not really."

"I'm not used to co-parenting," Fitz said wryly. "It's an adjustment."

"Yeah," Karen agreed.

"Speaking of parents," Fitz said. "We should tell your mother what's going on, what could happen. Do you want to or would you rather I handle it?"

"Would you mind?" Karen asked. "Telling you was hard enough. I'm not sure I'm up to handling the way that I'm pretty sure she's going to react."

Fitz wished that he could argue with her, be certain that Mellie would be supportive and understanding but they'd both recognize the hollowness of the effort if he tried.

"I'll take care of it," Fitz said.

"Thank you daddy," Karen said, crossing the room to give him another hug.

"Of course," Fitz said.

Olivia stuck her head back into the office.

"Harrison's on his way up to New Haven now," Olivia said. "And Carly and I need to get to the airport."

"Already?" Fitz asked, glancing at his watch.

"Already," Olivia confirmed.

"Why don't I get Carly ready to go?" Karen offered. "Give you guys a minute."

"Thank you, sweetheart," Fitz said.

"No problem," Karen said.

She disappeared out the door and Olivia came in and shut the door behind her.

"You good with this?" she asked him.

"I have…concerns," Fitz allowed. "I know what McDaniels is capable of, especially if he feels cornered. But this is what Karen wants and that's what matters."

Olivia smiled at him.

"I heard you say something earlier about your mother's birthday being this week," Fitz said. "Still radio silence on that front?"

"I haven't heard a word from her or my father since I told them," Olivia confirmed. "There's a dinner party planned, just family and a few friends. For Carly's sake, we'll go but…it could be tense."

"I'm sorry," Fitz said. "The last thing I wanted is for us to come between you and your family."

Olivia gave a small shrug.

"I made a choice," she said. "I chose you and I'm not sorry for that. I'd like to think that in time they'll adjust but at the end of the day, if they don't it's just as much their loss as mine."

"Fighting words," Fitz said knowingly.

"If I say them enough times, maybe they'll come true," Olivia said.

"C'mere," Fitz said, tugging her into his arms.

Olivia sighed and rested her head against his chest. His heartbeat thumped steadily under her ear and she closed her eyes to savor the reassurance of it for a few seconds.

"I should go," she murmured.

"I'm not sure I can keep this up," Fitz said. "I feel like I've said good bye to you more times than I should ever have to."

"This isn't a real good bye," Olivia said. "I'll see you in a few days."

"And Carly?" Fitz pointed out.

"I know," Olivia said. "I was thinking about it earlier myself."

"I know what we said the other day," Fitz said. "About waiting to tell her the truth."

"Second thoughts?" Olivia asked.

"It just occurred to me that if we keep waiting for the right time or the perfect time," Fitz said. "It's never going to happen."

"That's a fair point," Olivia said. "Let me think about it and we can decide in New York?"

"Okay," Fitz said.

The acquiescence came easily but Olivia could see the struggle he was trying to hide from her. She leaned up to give him a quick kiss but as soon as their lips touched, he tightened his grip on her and Olivia melted into him.

His tongue licked at the seam of her lips so Olivia parted them to grant him access to the honeyed warmth of her mouth. Her arms had just snaked around his waist to hold him closer to her when there was a dainty knock on the door. They pulled away from each other just as Carly rounded the door, zipped into her coat and with her hat tugged down around her ears.

She went straight to Fitz and held her arms out in a silent demand to be picked up. Fitz obliged her and tapped the tip of her nose with his index finger. Carly scrunched her face up in response.

"Promise me you'll take good care of your mother," Fitz began.

Carly giggled.

"It's Mommy's job to take care of me," she pointed out.

"Families take care of each other," Fitz said. "That's what make us families."

Carly cocked her head to one side to ponder that.

"Okay," she said. "I promise."

"Good girl," Fitz said, squeezing her tight. "I'll see you again real soon."

Carly threw her arms around his neck and squeezed back. Fitz stroked the back of her head and his eyes met Olivia's over their daughter's shoulder. He saw everything he was feeling reflected in her eyes.

"We'll do it," Olivia said softly. "What we just talked about? We'll do it."

* * *

"Hi Mom," Olivia said, when her mother answered the phone.

There was a moment of silence and then Olivia heard her father's voice come on the line.

"Wow," Olivia said mildly. "She's not even speaking to me?"

Her father sighed.

"It's fine," Olivia said, not wanting to put him in the middle. "I wasn't calling to force the issue. I'm calling because I need to make an overnight trip to New York tomorrow. I was wondering if you and Mom might want Carly to stay with you. Abby would be happy to have her if not."

Olivia heard her father shift away from the phone and murmur something. A few moments later he was back on the line.

"I'll pick Carly up from school tomorrow afternoon," Alvin said. "I can drop her off at your place when you get back."

"No," Olivia said. "I understand that Mom is mad at me or whatever it is that she's feeling. But there's a difference between giving her space and actively avoiding her so she doesn't have to deal with it. I'll pick Carly up on my way back from the airport."

Alvin sighed.

"Olivia," he began.

"You said it yourself," Olivia interrupted. "This is between me and Mom. So let me handle it."

"Fine," Alvin said but Olivia could hear the reluctance in his voice. "All I ask is that you try to remember that this week is your mother's birthday and I'd like to celebrate the occasion without any casualties."

"Understood," Olivia said.

There was a half beat of awkward silence and then Olivia hung up the phone. She crossed the hall to check on Carly, who was fast asleep and then she padded into the kitchen to pour herself a glass of wine. Leaning back against the counter, she took a sip and looked around her.

She'd been planning to hold off on moving the same way she'd been holding off on telling Carly the truth. But Fitz's words the day before really resonated with her. There was never going to be a perfect time for any of this so the only thing they could do was _live_.

Her cell phone rang and she picked it up automatically.

"What?" she said.

"I love you too, " Fitz teased.

Olivia's lips quirked upwards and tension she hadn't even realized she was still feeling started to drain out of her.

"Hi," she said.

"Better," Fitz acknowledged. "Hi."

"Where are you?" Olivia asked. "It sounds busy."

"The airport," Fitz said. "Headed your way actually."

"How come?" Olivia queried.

"Mellie," Fitz said succinctly. "I contemplated having the conversation over the phone but…"

"It's Karen," Olivia said simply.

"Exactly," Fitz said. "On a brighter note, I know it's not Air Force One but I still own a plane. Wanna hitch a ride to New York with me?"

Olivia laughed at the playful and decidedly seductive note that she could hear in his voice.

"What's in it for me?" she asked.

Fitz gave a low growl.

"I can think of lots of things," he murmured.

"I bet," Olivia said. "But you'll have to hold that thought until tomorrow night."

"Spoilsport," Fitz accused.

"You have meetings all day," Olivia reminded him. "And I need to wrap up a couple of things here since I'm spending most of the day Wednesday in the city."

"You are?" Fitz asked curiously. "What for?"

"Office space," Olivia said. "I'm not making any decisions but I figured it couldn't hurt to look around."

"That's…good," Fitz said.

"You sound hesitant," Olivia said.

"Not at all," Fitz said. "A little surprised, maybe. You said you're not making decisions but it feels like a decision. Or at least a prelude to one."

Olivia sighed.

"I'm thinking about moving," Olivia said. "Out of this house. And I can't really figure out if I should move to another house in D.C. or just move to New York."

"We do have a lot of things up in the air, don't we?" Fitz said.

"No more than usual," Olivia pointed out.

"Still feels different," Fitz said.

"Maybe because it's us," Olivia said. "We're both used to making decisions for other people. For ourselves, not so much."

"Also true," Fitz agreed. "Here's what I propose. Let's take things one step at a time. I'll talk to Mellie about everything with Karen tonight. Tomorrow, we can talk about where and when to tell Carly the truth. Our girls are the most important thing. So long as we're taking care of them, everything else will work itself out. Sound good?"

"Sounds pretty perfect," Olivia said.

"I gotta get on my plane," Fitz said.

"G'night," Olivia said. "Travel safe."

"Sweet dreams, sweet baby," Fitz said. "See you tomorrow."

Fitz hung up the phone and let out a deep breath as he headed towards the small jet that was waiting for him. Under other circumstances, the thought of being in D.C. and not seeing Olivia would have driven him insane. But he was too concerned with Mellie. Bringing her up to speed on what was happening with Karen would undoubtedly require telling her that he and Olivia were together and probably telling her about Carly as well.

There were plans in place and Fitz was confident that they would hold. He was _not_ going to allow Mellie to be a problem for his family any longer. But that didn't make him hate the idea of exposing Liv and Carly to her any less.

The flight was short and so was the ride to the State Department. Half an hour after he landed, Fitz was walking into Mellie's office.

"Well?" she asked arching an eyebrow at him. "You came all this way to see me. I can't imagine what for."

"It's about Karen," Fitz said.

There was a flash of something in Mellie's eyes but it was more curiosity than concern.

"She's not pregnant, is she?" Mellie asked. "Because I offered to have the doctor put her on the pill and she…"

"She is not pregnant," Fitz bit out. "She was assaulted. McDaniel's son drugged her and he would have raped her if not for the fact that she has a secret service detail."

Mellie's mouth fell open in a moment of genuine shock and then she pulled herself together.

"Who knows about this?" she demanded.

"Karen is coping well all things considered," Fitz said, pointedly not answering her question. "The agent intervened before the attack got…"

"Where was the agent in the first place?" Mellie snapped. "The situation never should have come up."

"Karen was mad at me. She lashed out by ditching her detail," Fitz said. "Just like when she was 11."

"She's not a child anymore, Fitz," Mellie said.

"No," Fitz agreed. "She's a remarkable young woman. Something you would know if you spent more time with her."

"Let's not turn this into a conversation about my failings as a mother according to you," Mellie said. "How is this being handled? Quietly I hope."

"As a matter of fact no," Fitz said. "Karen decided that she wanted to press charges. Her lawyer did that this morning and the boy was arrested this afternoon. The arraignment is tomorrow."

"Are you out of your mind?" Mellie asked. "Why wouldn't you talk her out of that? Have you given any thought to the media circus this is going to be? The daughter of the former president and the current Secretary of State pressing attempted rape charges against a Sentator's son?"

"I didn't come here to argue strategy with you," Fitz said. "The decisions have already been made. If you can't support what Karen wants, then at least have the decency not to comment."

"Of course, I'll comment," Mellie snapped. "And of course I'll support Karen. What kind of mother would be if I didn't?"

"You mean, what kind of mother would people think you are," Fitz corrected.

Mellie narrowed her eyes at him.

"You said Karen was mad at you," she said. "You didn't say why."

"Does it matter?" Fitz asked.

"Considering she was nearly raped as a result, I'd say so," Mellie said.

Fitz could tell that she smelled blood but he didn't flinch.

"Our kids have a tendency to eavesdrop," Fitz said. "Jerry with the boarding school thing, Karen a couple of years ago when you were discussing my infidelity and again more recently. She heard me talking to Olivia."

"Why am I not surprised," Mellie drawled. "I heard she and her husband got divorced. I did imagine you'd wait for the ink to dry before you started panting after her like a dog in heat though, but I guess I overestimated you. Again."

"Karen and Jerry both know the truth now," Fitz said. "About my relationship with Olivia, both past and present."

"Do they now?" Mellie asked. "And what about your bastard? Do they know about her too?"

Fitz's jaw locked but he was determined not to let Mellie goad him. Nor did he even bother to question how she knew about Carly when he'd never said a word.

"They met their sister last weekend," Fitz said. "They adore her."

Mellie's lips pressed together in a flat line.

"And it was during that visit that Karen confided in Olivia about what had happened to her," Fitz said. "Olivia is the one who convinced her that she needed to tell me. So if you mean anything you say about caring about Karen, then you owe Olivia. Without her, who knows how long Karen would have held on to this or how much damage it could have done."

"Olivia Pope has ruined my life in countless ways," Mellie said coldly. "I do not owe her a damn thing. And if you're planning to go public about your affair and your little…"

"Don't say another word," Fitz said, his voice practically vibrating with controlled fury.

Mellie's mouth snapped shut and she eyed him warily.

"We are going to tell our daughter the truth and the odds are that one day, that truth will become public," Fitz said. "When that happens, I expect you to fall in line. Tell people we were living separate lives, that you were in love with someone else, that we were biding our time until the divorce. You say whatever you need to in order to convince people that it was all amicable."

"Or else?" Mellie asked.

"I will sink you beyond the deepest depths of hell," Fitz said. "You always said that you made me? Well I made you too; it's _my_ name that you're carrying and that got you in this door. Don't ever forget that."

Mellie glared at him but she didn't argue.

"Get out," she said.

"Believe me," Fitz said. "It's more than my pleasure."


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: Insomnia sometimes serves a purpose. Enjoy! **

**P.S. I borrowed an anecdote from Gwyneth Paltrow for this chapter. It's a story I heard her tell about her dad once and I thought it was super sweet.**

* * *

Olivia didn't turn around when she heard the hotel room door open behind her. Instead she bit her lip and forced herself to stay still, staring out at the New York City skyline from the window.

She heard footsteps and the sound of a suitcase being wheeled behind them as the door shut. Then it was just footsteps, joined by the sound of rustling fabric. Olivia could picture Fitz shrugging out of his jacket and draping it across the first available surface. His tie would follow and then the first couple of buttons of his shirt and the buttons at either wrist

The footsteps continued to get closer and it wasn't long before Olivia caught his scent; woodsy and warm with just enough citrus to give it an edge. Next came the heat of his body as he came to stand behind her. It took every shred of self-control she possessed not to simply melt into him.

Fitz must have relished the unspoken challenge because she could feel his smile as he pushed her curls to one side to bare her neck and then pressed his lips to the spot just underneath her earlobe. His hands curved around her shoulders, the warmth of his palms searing through the thin material of her blouse. Those same hands slid down her arms and slipped around her waist to tug the top free from her pants and get to work on sliding the buttons loose.

Olivia could feel her body weakening and she sucked in a harsh breath when his knuckles brushed against the soft skin of her stomach. His fingers traced the scar on her belly and the kiss he pressed to the top of her shoulder was more poignant than provocative.

The reflective mood didn't last long. Once her blouse was pooled on the floor around her feet, Fitz went for the fastening on her light gray pants and dispatched it in short order. He snuck one hand under her panties and probed the folds between her legs. Olivia felt the rumble of his low groan when he realized that she was more than ready to accommodate him.

Pushing two fingers into her sheath, he started stroking her. Slowly. Too slowly. Olivia shifted her hips forward in an attempt to create the friction she wanted but Fitz simply stilled his fingers until she quit. Biting back a frustrated moan, she finally let herself lean back against him. Fitz nipped her earlobe in response and resumed his ministrations, this time adding the pressure of his thumb against her clitoris.

Olivia gasped and this time when her hips arched upwards, it was entirely involuntary. Fitz swallowed the end of the sound by covering her mouth with his own. Immediately, Olivia's tongue surged forward and tangled with his, starving for the taste of him. The kiss was hot and wet and fueled by mounting impatience on both their parts.

Fitz's fingers started moving faster and Olivia's breath was coming in choppy pants the closer he took her to the brink of orgasm. Just when she would have tumbled over, Fitz stopped. Olivia would have protested hotly if he hadn't startled her by scooping her feet out from under her and tossing her down on the bed a few feet away.

She bounced lightly and blinked up at him. He was shedding the rest of his clothes so Olivia did the same, kicking her pants off and reaching around behind herself to unhook her bra and shrug it off. She moved too slowly though, to save the panties she had on.

Fitz had crawled over her and ripped them off before she could stop him. A shame, she thought distractedly, since they were brand new. Pulling her legs apart, Fitz settled between them, face first. He kissed his way up the inside of one thigh and down the other and then reversed his tracks.

Olivia's eyes slid shut and she squirmed as much as she could given the tight grasp that he had on her legs. His late afternoon stubble was just coming in and the slight abrasion simply heightened the sensations. Then he parted her with his tongue and Olivia's fingers clenched in the bedspread underneath her. She'd been so close before that it only took a couple sweeps of his clever tongue to send her crashing into an intense climax.

He stayed with her tremor for tremor, licking and lapping at her until the aftershocks settled. Then he rolled them over and Olivia could feel his erection throbbing between them. Licking her lips, she reached for it, curling her hand around his shaft.

She stared down into his eyes as she started to fist her hand up and down.

"Hi," she murmured.

"Hi," Fitz said, practically choking on the word since Olivia's thumb was circling his tip, spreading the liquid that had gathered there. Raising herself up on her knees, Olivia straddled him. She rubbed her sex against his a couple of times, teasing them both before she settled down to business and took him inside her body, sinking swiftly so that he was buried to the hilt.

Fitz took hold of her hips and sat up. Olivia took advantage immediately, looping her arms around his neck and fusing their lips together in another frantic kiss. Her hips rocked against his body and although his grip was firm, Fitz made no move to control her rhythm. Emboldened by the fact that he was relinquishing control, Olivia gave her body free reign. She rode him fast and hard, then slow and unhurriedly. Tangling her fingers in the hair at the back of his head, she let her back arch and her head fall back.

Fitz took advantage to suck one of her nipples and then the other into his mouth and lave each pebbled peak with his tongue. Each tug of his lips seemed to travel through her body and culminate with her silken walls clamping tighter around him.

"God, Livvy," he muttered against her chest.

A rough moan was Olivia's only response as her hips picked up pace again. There would be no slowing down now until they were both on the other side of bliss. Fitz's fingers dug into her skin - Olivia was sure there would be bruises later but she didn't care - to hold her to him as his whole body began to shudder underneath her. His jaw was clenched tight as waves of release swamped him and Olivia could feel the hot, sticky proof of his pleasure coating her insides. It was enough to send her headlong into another powerful orgasm.

Several minutes later, they were slumped together, a soft sheen of sweat coating both of their bodies, and their breath just evening out. Olivia tangled her fingers with Fitz's, her ear pressed to his heart as they both took their time recovering.

Finally, Olivia smirked against his chest.

"Again?" she suggested.

Fitz groaned.

"Don't tempt me," he said.

Olivia looked up at him.

"Why the hell not?" she wanted to know.

"Because we have a date," Fitz said. "Dinner and a show."

Olivia arched an eyebrow.

"What show?" she asked.

"Phantom of the Opera," Fitz said. "Then dinner at Daniel."

"You know me," Olivia allowed.

"I do," Fitz agreed.

He glanced at his watch.

"Two hours until curtain," he said. "How about we compromise and share a shower?"

"Are you propositioning me, Mr. President?" Olivia teased.

"Why yes, Ms. Pope," he said, nipping her shoulder. "I am."

* * *

"You're staring again," Olivia said, her fingers curled around the stem of her wine glass.

They were just finishing up dinner after the spectacular performance of Phantom of the Opera that they'd attended at the Majestic theater.

"You look happy," Fitz said softly.

He was smiling at her from across the table but there was something serious in his eyes.

"We had good times...before," Fitz continued. "Spectacular times even but we weren't...happy."

"No," Olivia agreed. "We were fucked up."

Fitz smothered the burst of laughter that bubbled up in the back of his throat and made a quiet snort like sound instead.

"It was complicated," Fitz allowed.

His smile stretched up to his eyes.

"This is simple though," he said, reaching for her hand.

"In some ways," Olivia said, pressing her fingertips to his. "In others..."

She shrugged.

"We love each other and we love our kids," Fitz said. "That's as simple as it gets. The circumstances are complicated is all."

"So let's talk about the circumstances," Olivia said. "Telling Carly the truth doesn't happen in a vacuum. Especially not now with Karen's case against the McDaniels kid."

"We need to be a family united for her sake," Fitz said.

"Mellie agreed to that?" Olivia asked.

"Mellie is irrelevant," Fitz said. "I was talking about you, me and the kids."

Olivia's eyes widened slightly.

"We both know McDaniels will try to use our relationship and turn it into something sordid," Fitz said. "I want us to get ahead of that. But mostly, I want us to get on with actually living this life we keep talking about. That means telling Carly the truth."

"Have you talked to Karen and Jerry about it?" Olivia asked.

"Jerry's the one who brought it up," Fitz revealed. "He said it was weird having to lie to Rachel about who Carly was to him. I think her existence was a shock but now that they know, it wouldn't occur to either of them to deny her."

Olivia blinked back the tears that sprang to her eyes. She had always cared about Fitz's children before and it had always been genuine. But the way they'd treated Carly, accepted her, if not the situation, without question? That made her fall completely in love with both of them.

"So how do we do this?" Olivia asked. "We stick to the Gladiator plan?"

"It's a good plan," Fitz said. "We just...stop hiding. Let the gossipmongers and newshounds do their thing with our people controlling the narrative as needed."

"And Carly?" Olivia asked.

"I'm ready whenever you are," Fitz said.

"This weekend?" Olivia suggested.

"Your mother's birthday," Fitz reminded her.

"You could be my date," Olivia said.

"Somehow, I don't think that's the present that your mother is expecting," Fitz said.

He paused.

"I would like to talk to her though," he said. "To both your parents. We should let them know that we're planning to tell Carly in case..."

He let the sentence trail off.

"Here's what we're going to do," Olivia said after a moment. "I'll tell them when I pick Carly up tomorrow. It won't go over well, but at least they'll know. The dinner party for my mother is Friday night. You can come down on Saturday; I'll drop Carly off at James and Cyrus' for a play date with Gaia, and you and I can go see my parents. Then we pick up Carly and we tell her the truth."

"Karen and Jerry are visiting Mellie's parents this weekend so it works," Fitz said. "Ryan and Jake are in town with Jill."

"If things go well, we could head up there Sunday morning," Olivia said. "Stephen's back in town too."

"And then?" Fitz asked.

"Then we do what we said," Olivia replied. "We make New York work."

Fitz nodded slowly.

"That realtor of yours," he said. "She have a residential portfolio?"

"If she doesn't," Olivia said. "We find one that does."

"You feel good about this?" Fitz wanted to know.

"I do," Olivia said. "I think we've procrastinated enough, don't you?"

"Most definitely," Fitz said.

He signaled the waiter for the check and Olivia arched an eyebrow.

"In a hurry to get somewhere?" she asked him, since they hadn't ordered dessert.

"I have something in mind," he said.

"It better not be one of those corny carriage rides," she warned him.

"They're not corny," Fitz said. "But I know you, remember?"

Once the bill was settled, Fitz helped her into her coat and then led the way out onto the sidewalk. To Olivia's surprise their car was nowhere in sight.

"This way," Fitz said, taking her hand in his and starting out towards Park avenue.

"This almost feels normal," Olivia remarked a few minutes later.

"Almost?" Fitz returned.

"The secret service detail tip the scales back to surreal," Olivia said.

"I figured you'd be used to them by now," Fitz said.

"I am," Olivia said. "Doesn't mean it's not w_eird_. Weird that you're going to have to explain to Carly by the way."

"Have you thought about it?" Fitz asked. "Exactly what we should say to her?"

"Only a million times," Olivia said. "But I'm still not sure. You?"

"I decided to go with your gut," Fitz said. "The right words will come."

Olivia stopped to look at him and her eyes were so bright with emotion that Fitz couldn't help leaning in for a kiss, not particularly bothered about the fact that they were standing on a public sidewalk.

Olivia leaned her head against his shoulder when they broke apart and resumed walking, her arm linked through his.

"New York is going to be good," Olivia said.

"You doubted it?" Fitz asked lightly.

Olivia gave a tiny shrug.

"I've always been a D.C. girl," Olivia said. "I never seriously contemplated living anywhere else on a permanent basis until now."

"And what started out as a compromise suddenly seems full of possibility," he said knowingly.

"Exactly," Olivia said. "The kids will get great educations, they'll be exposed to all the culture the city has to offer; the museums, the plays, the galleries, the _fashion._"

Fitz laughed.

"Karen's dream is go to Fashion week on every continent," he said. "I get the feeling she'll have company."

"Wasn't there a fashion show during that state visit to France?" Olivia asked. "The kids were with you then, right?"

"No," Fitz said shaking his head. "Or rather, there was a fashion show but the kids weren't with us. Karen was so mad that I wouldn't let her go until I told her why."

"Here it comes," Olivia teased. "The patented Grant charm that gets you out of every sticky spot."

Fitz rolled his eyes but he was grinning.

"I promised her we'd go that summer, just her and me for an entire month," Fitz said. "I told her it was because I wanted her to discover Paris with a man who'd love her unconditionally, forever."

"Awww," Olivia said.

"Are you mocking me?" Fitz asked.

"Not at all," Olivia said. "I think that's really sweet."

"When she's older, I'll take Carly," Fitz said.

Olivia smiled.

"Life is good when you're a daddy's girl," she said.

"Speaking of places to bring Carly," Fitz said. "We're here."

Here was Serendipity 3, a popular spot for ice cream sundaes.

"Looks closed," Olivia said.

Fitz gave her a look and Olivia shook her head.

"So much for normal," she said, nevertheless walking through the door he opened for her.

The restaurant was deserted save for a couple of staff and a table set up in one corner in front of a wall length padded bench. The lights were dimmed and there were candles flickering on their table. There was also a bucket of champagne on ice.

"You're spoiling me," Olivia accused. "I thought we talked about that."

"Did we?" Fitz retorted. "I don't recall."

He kissed her temple as he helped her out of her coat. They settled into their seats, Fitz's arm draped around Olivia's shoulders and a petite redhead introduced herself as Mariana and proceeded to pour their champagne.

"Your sundae will be out in a moment," she said brightly as she put the bottle back on ice and disappeared.

"You ordered in advance?" Olivia asked him curiously.

"Had to," Fitz said. "48 hours in advance actually."

Before Olivia could comment any further, Mariana was back and placing the world's most expensive ice cream sundae in front of them. It was served in a Baccarat crystal goblet, with gold spoons, not to mention the gold leaf in the actual sundae and a tiny boat of what looked like Olivia's favorite dessert caviar on top.

"Wow," Olivia said. "This is...wow."

"Enjoy," Fitz said.

Olivia picked up a spoon and then shot him a mischievous look.

"What are you having?" she asked innocently.

"Cute," Fitz said. "Give me that."

He took the spoon from her and scooped up a little bit of the caviar. Then he held the spoon up to her lips and Olivia allowed him to feed her. She picked up the other spoon and mirrored his movements. For the next half an hour they alternated between trading kisses and trading bites of ice cream and edible gold and chocolate truffles, candied fruits and marzipan cherries.

"You know what you said earlier about how I look happy?" Olivia said, when they'd finally done away with the last of the dessert.

Fitz nodded.

"It's because I am," Olivia said with a soft smile. "Possibly for the first time in my life, I am truly, genuinely happy."


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: I've been writing this chapter in bits and pieces because of how little spare time I have. I hope it's not too disjointed for all that. I'm actually planning to wrap this story up soon - aiming for no more than five chapters - and then move on to the sequel. I warn you from now that there will probably be a significant time jump because I'm not sure how much of all the trial hassle I want to actively deal with.**

**Speaking of the trial, I am taking creative liberty with the American justice system and flat out just making stuff up to suit me. Hope everyone is cool with that. Enjoy!**

* * *

"Mommy!" Carly cried, hurling herself at Olivia's legs.

"Hey, sweetheart," Olivia said, leaning down to wrap her daughter in a hug. "I missed you like crazy."

"I missed you too," Carly said, burrowing tighter into Olivia's arms.

Olivia looked up at the sound of footsteps and found herself locking eyes with her mother for the first time in longer than she cared to consider. They so rarely fought that it made the distance between them now, all the harder to bear.

"Mom," Olivia said.

"Olivia," her mother said, returning the restrained greeting. "Carly's things are all upstairs. I'll go get them."

"Carly's a big girl," Olivia said. "She can get her own things, can't you, pumpkin?"

Carly nodded her head furiously in agreement and wriggled away from Olivia to clamber up the stairs.

Eleanor folded her arms across her chest.

"Where's Dad?" Olivia asked, straightening up.

"He went to pick up dinner," Eleanor said. "We weren't certain what time you'd be getting back."

"I emailed you a copy of my itinerary," Olivia pointed out.

"We thought you might have been delayed," Eleanor said. "After all, you seemed very wrapped up in your…business. At least, according to the New York Post."

Olivia bit back a sigh. She'd assumed that her parents had seen the article that appeared about her and Fitz on the infamous Page Six and then in several other news outlets. It hadn't been planned so they hadn't had the time to warn anyone and the kids had been first priority once they had found out.

Harrison had briefed them early this morning and then Fitz had called Karen and Jerry to make sure they were braced while Olivia placed a call to the principal at Carly's school in case any overzealous media decided to show up.

There hadn't been time to deal with her parents and Olivia had figured talking to them would be better face-to-face anyway.

"About that," she began.

Eleanor held up her hand.

"I really don't want to hear it Olivia," she said.

"I understand that you're not ready to hear about my relationship with Fitz, past or present," Olivia agreed. "But that doesn't change the fact that it's a reality and that things are going to be changing."

She paused.

"I'd like you to be aware of those changes even if you choose not to be a part of them," Olivia said.

Eleanor gave her daughter a look but she sat down, which Olivia took as her cue to continue.

"Fitz and I are going to tell Carly the truth this weekend," Olivia said.

She let the sentence hang there for a moment, waiting to see if her mother would comment.

She didn't.

"It's not a decision that we – that _I_ – am making lightly but at the end of the day, I genuinely believe that Carly gets more than she loses, knowing who her real father is," Olivia said.

"I see," Eleanor asked.

"Do you?" Olivia asked quietly.

"What difference does it make?" Eleanor said. "I know you. I can see that you've made up your mind and I know better than to think I can change it. At the end of the day, I don't have to live with your decisions. You do. Your daughter does."

"He loves us," Olivia said. "If you gave him even half a chance, if you saw them together then…"

"Then what?" Eleanor said. "I would forget that he broke his marriage vows and made my daughter a mistress? That I would ignore the fact that you've been lying to my face every day for years?"

Eleanor shook her head.

"The facts aren't the worst part of this," she said. "The worst part of this is that I look you and I realize that I have no idea who you really are."

"You're right," Olivia said. "I did keep a lot of things hidden and I am sorry for that. But I am trying to let you in now. I want to share this part of my life with you because it's good, because I'm _happy_. Can't you please just try to be happy for me?"

"I would like to be happy for you," Eleanor said. "But I haven't figured out how yet. I need more time."

Olivia swallowed past the lump that had formed in her throat and nodded.

"Okay," she said thickly.

Carly came back into the living room dragging her backpack and favorite pillow behind her.

"Ready to go, sweetheart?" Olivia asked, mustering up a smile.

"Uh huh," Carly said.

"Give grandma some sugars," Olivia said.

Carly dropped her things to cross the room and give her grandmother a hug and several noisy kisses.

"I know you weren't sneaking out of here with seeing me," Alvin said, as he came through the front door and into the living room. He set several bags of food from their favorite BBQ spot on the coffee table.

"Hi Daddy," Olivia said

Alvin narrowed his eyes as he scanned her face and walked towards her but he put an arm around her shoulder and squeezed before giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"Hello baby," he said.

"We were just getting ready to leave," Olivia said. "But we'll see you all tomorrow night."

"Olivia," her mother said carefully.

Olivia locked eyes with her mother and could see the clearly written message there. Having Olivia at the birthday dinner in the aftermath of the page six column would be complicated and messy and apparently her mother wasn't ready to deal with that.

Olivia supposed it wasn't entirely unexpected but it did hurt just the same. Still, she wasn't going to make a fuss, largely because Carly was looking up at her with worried eyes.

"Everything's fine, pumpkin," Olivia murmured, smoothing her hand over Carly's head. "What do you say we have a movie night when we get home?"

Carly's expression brightened at that.

"Can we watch Puss N Boots?" she asked.

"Sure," Olivia agreed.

Carly ran to give her grandfather a hug and kiss goodbye, while Olivia gathered her things.

"Good night you guys," Olivia said, flashing a strained smile at both her parents.

She guided Carly out the door and once her daughter was safely buckled into the backseat, she slid behind the wheel and took a deep breath.

"Mommy, you 'kay?" Carly asked. Her brows were furred together, Olivia realized glancing in the rearview mirror. Whatever reassurance she'd managed to give earlier had apparently already worn off.

She opted to be a little bit more honest this time.

"Mommy's a little tired and a little sad," Olivia admitted. "But everything is going to be just fine, I promise. Do you want to have popcorn or cookies during the movie?"

"Popcorn," Carly said. "Why are you sad? Do you miss Fitz?"

Olivia allowed herself a small smile.

"Yeah, I do," she said.

"Me too," Carly said. "Can we call him?"

"Why don't we wait until we get home?" Olivia said. "And then we can."

"Okay," Carly agreed.

They were about ten minutes away from home when Olivia's phone rang.

"We have a problem," Huck informed her.

"What kind of problem?" Olivia demanded.

"Press at your house," Huck replied.

Olivia bit back a curse.

"I have Carly," she said.

"I can keep them back," Huck said. "But I can't stop them from asking questions. It could freak her out."

Olivia weighed the risk and decided it wasn't worth it. She didn't want Carly hearing anything that would confuse her. Especially not now when they were on the brink of telling her the truth.

"Do what you can to get rid of them," Olivia said. "I'll head to Abby's for a while."

"I'll meet you there later," Huck said.

They hung up and Olivia changed course.

"We going to Aunt Abby's?" Carly queried.

"Yep," Olivia said. "Is that okay?"

"I guess," Carly said. "Can we still call Fitz?"

"Of course," Olivia said.

It only took ten minutes to get to Abby's and since Olivia had texted en route, Abby had already moved her car out of the garage and into the driveway. Olivia pulled into the garage and shut door. This way, if anyone was on the lookout for her car, they wouldn't see it.

"You okay?" Abby murmured when they walked in.

"Yes?" Olivia said. "There's a lot going on."

"Catch me up," Abby said.

"Wine and popcorn later?" Olivia suggested. "I promised little miss that we'd make a phone call first."

"Have you had dinner yet?" Abby asked.

Carly shook her head.

"How about my famous grilled cheese?" Abby offered.

Carly's eyes lit up.

"Yeah!" she exclaimed.

"Let's wash up so you can help me," Abby said, picking Carly up and carrying her into the kitchen.

Olivia hung back and pulled out her cell phone. She wanted to bring Fitz up to speed before handing him over to Carly.

He answered on the second ring.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi," Olivia replied.

"Rough afternoon, it sounds like," Fitz noted.

"I thought my mom was thawing," Olivia said. "Not a lot but still. And then she disinvited me from her birthday dinner so I guess not so much."

"I'm sorry," Fitz said.

"Stop apologizing," Olivia said. "This isn't your fault."

Fitz stayed silent.

"By the way, Carly and I are at Abby's," Olivia went on. "We'll probably stay the night. Press were camped out at my place according to Huck and I didn't want to risk it."

Fitz was silent for another moment.

"You're not going to like what I say next," he warned her.

"Alright," Olivia said slowly.

"I think you and Carly need protection," Fitz said. "Secret Service is out but we can hire private. Have Huck hand pick the team."

"You're right, I don't like it," Olivia agreed. "I can't have body guards trailing me everywhere I go. Cramps my working style."

"So would being seriously injured or even killed," Fitz retorted. "This is Carly's safety and yours that we're talking about. I'm not willing to take risks with it, and certainly not when things are about to get crazier than they already are."

Olivia sighed.

"Huck can keep an eye on Carly," she said. "And he can pick _one_ guard for me."

"Two for you and Huck for Carly," Fitz countered.

"One for me and one for Carly and Huck keeps eyes on both of us," Olivia offered.

"Sold on the condition that if things do get crazier, we can re-negotiate," Fitz said.

"Okay," Olivia said.

She paused.

"So about our plan," she began. "What if Carly and I came up to Boston tomorrow afternoon instead of you coming down?"

"Postponing the confrontation with your parents?" Fitz asked.

"Yes," Olivia said. "There's nothing to be gained from it now and I'd rather focus on Carly and Karen and Jerry. In fact, I think having them close by when we tell her will help."

"Karen and Jerry are still headed to their grandparents on Saturday," Fitz said. "Does that mean you want to tell her tomorrow night?"

"I'm game if you are," Olivia said.

"I'm game," Fitz said.

"Mommy!" Carly hollered.

"That sounded demanding," Fitz said.

"She misses you," Olivia said. "I promised her we'd call."

"I miss her too," Fitz said. "I miss both of you."

"Not for much longer," Olivia said. "It'll be Easter before you know it. I think we could all be in New York by then."

"Lots to do," Fitz pointed out.

"Getting things done is what I do best," Olivia reminded him.

She stepped into the kitchen.

"Hold on for the munchkin," Olivia said.

She handed Carly the phone.

"It's Fitz," Olivia said.

"Hi!" Carly said brightly, clutching the phone that was a bit too big for her with both hands. "Aunt Abby is making grilled cheese. Hers is the bestest."

"Only because you've never had mine," Fitz said. "I am a world champion griller of cheese."

Carly giggled.

"What'd you learn in school today?" Fitz asked.

"We learned about bees," Carly said. "They help food grow and they make honey."

"That's right, they do," Fitz said.

"And they have a queen," Carly added. "I'm going to be a queen when I grow up."

"I thought you wanted to be President of the World," Fitz said.

"Yeah, but queens have more shiny things than presidents," Carly pointed out. "I like tiaras."

"I can't argue with that," Fitz said. "Although, I have met a couple of queens in real life and they don't wear their tiara's every day."

"Why not?" Carly wanted to know. "If I had a real one, I'd wear it _everywhere_."

"She would too," Olivia muttered to Abby.

Abby gave her a small smile.

"Munchkin's distracted," she said. "Wanna fill me in?"

"Press were camped at my place," Olivia said. "Huck gave me the heads up. My mother's still…whatever she is at me. I'm uninvited from dinner tomorrow night so I'm taking Carly up to Boston and Fitz and I are telling her the truth."

"Wow," Abby said. "That's a lot."

"And I'm planning to have us all moved to New York by Easter," Olivia said.

"Definitely a lot," Abby said. "What do you need me to do?"

"Mostly just help Harrison keep the fort down here," Olivia said. "I want all the domestic stuff to be settled before I work on opening up OPA in the city and recruiting a couple new gladiators."

"Makes sense," Abby said.

"Actually, I could use your help picking schools for Carly," Olivia said. "I have a short list but I want background checks on everyone."

"Consider it handled," Abby said. "Speaking of background checks, I found the housekeeper's daughter."

"She willing to testify?" Olivia asked.

"Yep," Abby said. "She was never on board with her mother taking the money but by the time she was able to stand up for herself, it was too late."

"Is she safe?" Olivia asked.

"Harrison and Huck have her stashed," Abby said. "I don't even know where she is."

"Good," Olivia said. "How long until Karen's name hits the public?"

"Another couple of weeks," Abby said. "It'll come out when both sides put evidence on the table."

"Okay," Olivia said. "We need to speed up our schedule as far as making me and Fitz public. I want it out there and well established before the trial takes over the headlines."

"You guys decide how you're going to handle that?" Abby asked. "The trial I mean."

"A family united," Olivia said. "Fitz, me and the kids."

"His idea or yours?" Abby queried.

"What do you think?" Olivia threw back.

"I think old habits die hard and a part of you still wants to be his fixer, the person that sets his world to rights and does it before he realizes anything is even wrong," Abby said.

"Don't hold back," Olivia said wryly.

Abby shrugged.

"I'm just saying," she said. "You job isn't to protect him. It's to stand by him. And let him stand by you."

"I'm working on it," Olivia finally said. "And I don't think I've been doing badly so far."

"You've been doing really well," Abby corrected. "This is what I imagined you and Fitz could be like. I just…I don't want you to revert to old habits if things don't go as planned."

"Mommy," Carly interrupted. "Here."

She pushed the phone in Olivia's direction.

"Aunt Abby, is my dinner ready?" Carly continued.

"Almost," Abby said, flipping the sandwich, while Olivia took her cell phone back.

"Still there?" Olivia asked.

"Of course," Fitz said.

"How is Karen holding up?" Olivia asked.

"She's putting up a good front," Fitz said. "But I can't imagine that going back to school has been easy on her."

"It's going to get worse before it gets better," Olivia pointed out.

"I know," Fitz said. "How is it that I can face hostage situations and a mole in the highest levels of national security with less anxiety than I'm feeling right now?"

"The nature of being a parent," Olivia said.

"You caught on quick," Fitz said lightly.

Olivia glanced over at Carly who was grinning at Abby though a mouthful of melted cheese.

"It happens in an instant, you know?" Olivia said.

"Some of the best things in life do," Fitz said. "Just look us the first time we met."

The kitchen door opened and Huck slipped through. He glanced at Abby and then over at Olivia. He indicated the other room and Olivia nodded.

Carly spotted him and immediately abandoned her sandwich to slide off her chair and walk over to Huck. She looked up at him expectantly and Huck obliged by picking her up. He touched her cheek lightly and then set her back in her chair.

Had it been anyone else, Carly probably would have protested that she hadn't been showered with sufficient affection. But it was Huck and that seemed to be all she needed.

"Huck just got here," Olivia murmured. "Call you later?"

"Don't forget what we agreed," Fitz said.

"Don't be annoying," Olivia said.

"You love me," Fitz said.

"Remind me why again?" Olivia said.

"I love you too," Fitz said.

Olivia shook her head but she was smiling when she hung up. Her smile faded however when she joined Huck and saw the look on his face.

"What?" she demanded.

"One of the reporters crossed a line," Huck said. "Tried to break into the house."

"You stopped him," Olivia said.

It wasn't a question.

"He wasn't press," Huck said. "He was an investigator."

"Who hired him?" Olivia asked.

"Marilyn Davis," Huck said.


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N - I apologize for the long wait on this chapter. Part of it was down to time but mostly it's been down to lack of inspiration. I haven't seen the last two episodes in full but I have read enough spoilers to know I'm not thrilled with how things have worked out. That kind of "twist" *cough* cop out *cough* can really take me out of a world and make it hard to find a way back.**

**But we are almost at the end of this story so I will finish. **

**I should also tell you that I had fully planned to have Carly learn the truth this chapter but Little Miss had a different plan. BUT. I swear on ASkars that it will happen in the next chapter. I will try not to make you wait as long for that update.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Oliva was in full gladiator mode as she waited for Marilyn Davis to come downstairs. The housekeeper had taken one look at Olivia when she opened the door and not even bothered to argue when Olivia insisted she go fetch the lady of the house.

"Olivia," Marilyn Davis said in a chilly tone as she walked into the dining room. "What are you doing here?"

"You hired an investigator to break into my house," Olivia said. "Did you really think I wouldn't find out?"

Marilyn narrowed her eyes but she didn't speak.

"I know all about the investigator," Olivia went on. "I know all about this insane idea you have that you can make me out to be an unfit mother. You're going to drop it."

"I will not," Marilyn said. "What you're doing to Carly and to Edison is..."

Olivia shook her head.

"You still haven't questioned him, have you?" she asked. "You haven't bothered to ask your son why it was so easy for him to walk away from Carly?"

Marilyn met Olivia's steely gaze with her own.

"If this is the part where you tell me that Fitzgerald Grant is Carly's father, then don't bother,' Marilyn said. "I already know that."

Olivia blinked but gave no other sign that she was surprised.

"Mellie Grant was most forthcoming," Marilyn continued.

Olivia cursed silently. Would Mellie ever not be a thorn in her side?

"If you know then what the hell are you doing trying to get my daughter taken away from me?" Olivia demanded.

"The fact that you lied about her paternity just proves my point, Olivia," Marilyn said. "You've displayed incredibly poor judgment and I don't think it would take much to convince a court that you're not fit to have custody of Carly. Edison is the only father she knows and..."

"Shut. Your. Mouth," Olivia bit out. She didn't think she'd ever been so coldly furious in her life. "If you or your son or anyone else in your family ever comes anywhere near my daughter again, there will be hell to pay. Take me to court and I will destroy you."

"I'd like to see you try," Marilyn snapped.

"Would you?" Olivia asked. "Should I start with the abortion you had when you were 15? Or with the money Darren embezzled from his law firm? Or how about the two years that your eldest daughter spent in a mental hospital being treated for severe depression?"

For the first time since the conversation had started, Marilyn looked shaken.

"Do not push me and do not test me," Olivia said. "I _will _ruin you and everyone you love if that is what it takes to protect my child."

She glared at Marilyn once move for good measure before she headed for the front door and let herself out. Her body was vibrating with suppressed fury even though she was fairly sure she'd gotten through to Marilyn and that the Davis family would no longer be a problem.

Still...

And Mellie.

Olivia had put up with a lot from the former first lady and mostly because a part of her had always felt so guilty. But those days were over and when it came to Carly and even Karen and Jerry, Olivia was drawing a clear line in the sand. Deciding to go with her gut, Olivia detoured to the State Department and called in a favor to get clearance.

"Olivia Pope," Mellie said, standing in the doorway to her office. "I'm not even going to ask how you got this far without any advanced warning."

"You know this city," Olivia said mildly. "Knowing the right people is everything."

She held Mellie's stare until the other woman looked away and glanced at her secretary.

"Hold my calls," Mellie said.

She nodded towards her office, gesturing for Olivia to go in. Moments later, the two of them were alone.

"What do you want Olivia?" Mellie asked rounding her desk and sitting down in her chair.

"To help you," Olivia said.

"I've had your help before," Mellie said. "It ended in divorce and public humiliation. Thanks but no thanks."

Olivia ignored her.

"The only thing more important than who you know is what you tell them," Olivia said. "You, Mellie, have been talking to the wrong people. About me. About Fitz. About _our daughter_. So I am going to help you. I'm going to give you the same warning that I gave Marilyn Davis."

Mellie eyed her warily.

"Back away from my family," Olivia said.

"Or what?" Mellie said. "You'll destroy me, ruin me? Fitz has already covered this."

"Fitz doesn't know everything that I know," Olivia said. "And he tries to restrain himself when it comes to you for Karen and Jerry's sakes. I won't."

"You're bluffing," Mellie said.

Olivia allowed herself to smile.

"It's a new world, Mellie," Olivia said. "But if you think I'm bluffing, then try me. You won't be able to say you weren't warned."

Satisfied that Mellie would at the very least think twice before pulling her next stunt, Olivia turned on her heel and left. Abby called just as she was getting behind the wheel.

"You've been gone a while," Abby said. "Do I need to bail you out?"

"No," Olivia said. "Not this time."

She looked at her watch.

"I'm swinging by the house and then going to pick Carly up and go to the airport," she said.

"Why don't I get Carly and meet you at the house," Abby offered. "Then I can drop you at the airport and you won't have to leave your car."

"Not a bad idea," Olivia said. "Thanks."

They hung up and Olivia continued on the road to her house, mentally making a note to call a real estate agent here in D.C. and put it on the market. The sooner they got out there for good, the better. The more time went by the less conflicted she felt about leaving D.C. for New York.

Yes, she would undoubtedly have moments where she missed it, but that was what Amtrak was for. Pulling into the driveway, Olivia looked around and satisfied that Huck had definitively discouraged the media, she slipped in through the side door. Shrugging out of her coat, she went Carly's room first and packed enough clothes and toys to get them through the weekend and maybe the Monday.

Setting Carly's suitcase in the hall, she went into her own room and was in the middle of packing when she heard Abby and Carly come in.

"Liv?" Abby called out.

"Upstairs," Olivia called back.

Moments later, Carly careened into the room and threw herself into the middle of Olivia's bed. Then she got to her feet and started jumping.

Olivia arched an eyebrow.

"What did you eat?" she asked her daughter.

Carly stuck her tongue out so that Olivia could see it was streaked with blue.

"Candy!" Carly said gleefully in between jumps. "It was Lila's birthday so we had candy and cupcakes and we played games and..."

"And you will be up until after midnight on a sugar high," Olivia said with a sigh. "Remind me again why I'm paying a fortune for private school?"

Abby smirked.

"Because you want your daughter to be an overachiever just like you?" she offered.

"Smart ass," Olivia said.

"Mommy!" Carly exclaimed. "You not supposed to say ass. Grandma says."

"Grandma's right," Olivia said. "I'm sorry."

Carly jumped especially high and then collapsed in a fit of giggles on the bedspread.

"Mommy can we have pizza?" she asked.

"I don't think so," Olivia said. "You've had enough junk food. Besides, we're going on a trip."

"We are?" Carly asked. "When? Where we going?"

"We leave in a couple of hours," Olivia said. "We're going to Boston."

"Yipee!" Carly squealed.

"And Uncle Stephen is back too, so you'll get to see him," Olivia said.

Carly was practically shaking with excitement.

"You been talking to him?" Abby asked.

"Mostly emailing back and forth," Olivia said. "He knows what's been up though and the plan for this weekend."

"And Stephen says?"

"It's a good idea," Olivia said.

"For what it's worth, I agree," Abby said. "You're doing the right thing."

Olivia flashed her a smile.

"Thanks," she said.

She turned to Carly.

"Do you want to jump rope or hula hoop?" she suggested.

"Anything to burn off that excess energy," Abby quipped.

"Nope," Carly said. "I want to draw pictures. For Fitz and Ren and Jerry and Uncle Stephen."

"Sounds like a big task," Olivia said. "You better get started."

"Yep," Carly agreed.

She bounced herself off of Olivia's bed and ran in the direction of her room and the art supplies that were there.

"Good thing you're letting Fitz send his plane for you," Abby said. "Can you imagine dealing with that hyperness on a commercial flight?"

Olivia faked a shudder and then turned to her closet and pulled out an angora sweater. She placed in her suitcase and then started to close it.

"Hopefully she'll calm down sooner rather than later," Olivia said. "I don't want her to be hopped up on sugar when we explain things to her."

"You're nervous," Abby said.

"Wouldn't you be?" Olivia retorted.

"She already adores him," Abby pointed out. "This is going to be fine."

"I'm not really worried that she'll be upset," Olivia said. "I'm worried that she'll be confused. It's one thing for Edison to be absent - she can file him away as "dead beat dad". But understanding that Fitz is her real father and why he hasn't been a part of her life until now..."

"She's a really smart kid," Abby said. "She'll get it. And more importantly? She'll feel the love you and Fitz both have for her and at the end of the day, that's what matters."

Olivia gave her friend a quick hug.

"You better be right," Olivia said.

"Aren't I always?" Abby retorted.

* * *

"What is she on?" Fitz whispered to Olivia, only half kidding as he watched Carly racing around penthouse living room on her mini scooter.

"Impromptu birthday party at school this afternoon," Olivia sighed. "She still hasn't come down from the sugar high."

She glanced at her watch.

"I'd give it at least another hour before she crashes completely," Olivia said. "Which means…"

Fitz squeezed her shoulder.

"It's fine," he told her. "I'm just happy to have you both here."

Olivia tucked her legs under her on the couch and leaned her head against Fitz's shoulder.

"I took care of some things in D.C. today," she said quietly.

"What kind of things?" Fitz asked, sensing that she wasn't talking about work.

"Marilyn Davis for one," Olivia said. "She'd have to be a lot stupider than I think she is to mess with us again. And…Mellie."

"You took care of Mellie?" Fitz asked. "How'd you manage that?"

"Knowing her as well as I unfortunately do, I doubt she'll be daunted for too long," Olivia said. "But hopefully I bought us some time if nothing else."

"Which is better than nothing where Mellie is concerned," Fitz said. "The last thing we need right now are more distractions. I want to focus on you and the kids."

"That's what this weekend is for," Olivia agreed.

Carly abandoned her scooter and catapulted herself onto the couch landing on her knees right in between her parents.

"I wanna play a game," she announced. "Play with me?"

"Sure," Fitz said, his expression tender and amused. "What do you want to play?"

"Fish," Carly said.

"Go Fish," Olivia clarified.

"Yeah," Carly said. "You gots cards?"

"I'm sure there's a deck in here somewhere," he said. "Why don't we go upstairs and look?"

Carly nodded and proceeded to wiggle and scramble so she could climb onto Fitz's back. Olivia watched them go with a smile on her face. Every time she saw them together, she knew she was making the right decision.

Picking up her nearly empty glass of wine, she headed into the kitchen for a refill. She was just crossing the foyer when the front door opened and Jerry came in.

"Hey, Liv," he greeted her with a small smile.

"Hey, yourself," Olivia said. "How was the party?"

"Eh, it was okay," Jerry said. "The kid having it is kind of a douche but Rachel is his sister's best friend so…"

"How is Rachel?" Olivia asked,

Jerry rolled his eyes.

"Don't you start too," he said. "Every time I mention her, Dad gives me this look. To say nothing of Karen…"

"She's your first girlfriend," Olivia said. "Comes with the territory."

"She is not my girlfriend," Jerry protested, heading towards the kitchen and sticking his head in the refrigerator.

Olivia poured more wine into her glass and sat down on one of the high stools flanking the island counter.

"But you want her to be?" Olivia prompted.

"I don't know," Jerry said, pulling out a carton of milk and drinking straight out of it.

"Jerry," Olivia scolded.

He gave her a sheepish grin.

"Old habit and all that," he said.

"Work on it," Olivia advised.

"I don't know," Jerry repeated. "About Rachel I mean. We're friends. I like that. Don't want to ruin it."

"Nothing wrong with taking your time," Olivia said.

"You and Dad kinda took that to an extreme, don't you think?" Jerry said.

"Not so much by choice," Olivia said. "Circumstances and all."

She paused.

"You and I haven't really had a chance to talk about it," she offered. "Me and your dad. Carly."

Jerry put the milk on the counter and sat down on the stool next to her.

"It's weird," Jerry began. "But not for the reasons I thought it would be."

Olivia gave a small nod, encouraging him to continue.

"The weird part it that it doesn't really feel weird," Jerry said. "You and Dad together, Carly being here. This feels more like a family now than it did when it was Mom, Dad, me and Karen."

"You sound like you haven't decided if that's a good thing or not," Olivia said.

"I think it is," Jerry said. "I mean, I like that Dad is happy now because for a long time he just…wasn't. And Carly's kinda awesome, plus it's nice not being the baby anymore."

Olivia smiled.

"I just…I don't know where my mother fits in this picture," Jerry blurted out. "And it worries me that I'm kind of fine with her not being in it."

"What do you mean?" Olivia asked.

"I've been old enough for a while," Jerry said. "To get that there are things she cares about more than me and Karen. Sometimes, I'm really mad at her for that but she's still my mother so…"

"Loving someone doesn't mean loving what they do or the choices they make," Olivia said. "It's okay to be mad or upset when she lets you down."

"You think so?" Jerry asked.

"I do," Olivia said.

Jerry huffed out a breath.

"Thanks, Liv," he said.

She reached out and gave his shoulder a squeeze.

"You're welcome," Olivia said.

"We found the cards," Fitz declared as he walked into the kitchen, Carly perched on his shoulders.

"Jerry!" Carly exclaimed.

"Hey squirt," Jerry said.

"You wanna play cards with us?" Carly asked.

Jerry took in his father's smile and the excited sparkle in Carly's eyes and the amused expression on Liv's face and felt something settle inside him.

"Yeah," he said. "Come on, I'll teach you all of Dad's tricks."

"Traitor," Fitz accused.

"Hey us kids have to stick together," Jerry said. "Right, Carly?"

"Right," Carly agreed, giving him a high five.

"You guys go ahead," Fitz said. "Liv and I will bring snacks."

Jerry and Carly disappeared with the cards into the living room and Fitz cocked his head in Olivia's direction.

"You good?" he asked her.

She shook her head.

"No," she said. "I am much better than just good."

Fitz tilted her face up for a kiss.

"I'm glad to hear that," Fitz said, licking her bottom lip. "Now come on, we have to go show those kids how it's done."

"It's Go Fish," Olivia said. "Not the world poker championships."

Fitz scoffed.

"We're Grants," he informed her. "No game is ever _just_ anything."

"_We_ are, are we?" Olivia asked arching her eyebrow.

Fitz simply smirked at her.

"I'm not changing my name if I marry you," Olivia said. "Just so you know."

"When you marry me," Fitz corrected. "I won't care. So long as you wear my ring, I'll be happy."

Olivia hummed under her breath.

"I haven't said yes yet you know," she said.

"I haven't asked yet you know," Fitz retorted.

"You will," Olivia said.

"You won't see it coming," Fitz said.

"How much you want to bet?" Olivia countered.

"All in," Fitz said. "The rest of forever."

"You're on," Olivia said.


End file.
